Related Experiment Video
Updated: Aug 4, 2025
10:03
Establishing a High Throughput Epidermal Spheroid Culture System to Model Keratinocyte Stem Cell Plasticity
Published on: January 30, 2021
3.8K
PGC-1s shape epidermal physiology by modulating keratinocyte proliferation and terminal differentiation
Simon-Pierre Gravel1,2,3, Youcef Ben Khalifa4, Shawn McGuirk1,2
1Department of Biochemistry, McGill University, Montréal, QC H3A 1A3, Canada.
Iscience
|April 3, 2023
Summary
Peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor-gamma coactivator (PGC-1) proteins are crucial for skin health and aging. Targeting PGC-1s shows potential for treating skin conditions and age-related changes.
Area of Science:
- Dermatology
- Molecular Biology
- Cell Biology
Background:
- Skin aging involves significant functional changes.
- Peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor-gamma coactivator (PGC-1) family members regulate tissue biology.
- The role of PGC-1s in skin physiology is largely unknown.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the role of PGC-1s in skin functions.
- To identify key substrates and regulators of PGC-1s in keratinocytes.
- To explore the potential of targeting PGC-1s for skin health.
Main Methods:
- Global gene expression profiling in keratinocytes.
- Gene silencing techniques to assess PGC-1 function.
- Analysis of reconstructed human epidermal equivalents.
- Assessment of mitochondrial respiration and keratinocyte proliferation.
Main Results:
- PGC-1s regulate metabolic genes and terminal differentiation programs in keratinocytes.
- Glutamine promotes mitochondrial respiration and keratinocyte proliferation, upregulating PGC-1s.
- Silencing PGC-1s decreased epidermal thickness.
- Salicylic acid derivatives enhanced PGC-1 expression and mitochondrial respiration.
Conclusions:
- PGC-1s are essential for epidermal physiology and function.
- The PGC-1 axis is a potential target for managing skin aging and conditions.
- Glutamine and salicylic acid derivatives influence PGC-1 activity and skin health.
Related Concept Videos
01:12Renewal of Skin Epidermal Stem Cells
2.6K
The skin is divided into epidermis, dermis, and hypodermis, the skin's outermost, middle, and inner layers. The human epidermal layer regularly undergoes renewal, where old, dead cells are replaced by new cells. Epidermal stem cells or EpiSCs divide and differentiate to restore the lost cells. For the renewal process, some EpiSCs continuously self-renew. In contrast, few others differentiate into transit-amplifying cells, which later form prickle or spinous cells, followed by granular...
2.6K
01:19Clinical Applications of Epidermal Stem Cells
2.7K
Epidermal stem cells (EpiSCs) are mainly located at the basal layer of the epidermis. These cells repair minor injuries of the skin and replace dead skin cells. However, EpiSCs’ cannot heal severe wounds such as major burns or those from diabetes or hereditary disorders. In such cases, culturing the epidermal stem cells from the patient is possible and has yielded successful treatment options, such as laboratory-grown skin grafts. These grafts are synthesized using a patient’s own...
2.7K
02:38Mitogens and the Cell Cycle
6.6K
Mitogens and their receptors play a crucial role in controlling the progression of the cell cycle. However, the loss of mitogenic control over cell division leads to tumor formation. Therefore, mitogens and mitogen receptors play an important role in cancer research. For instance, the epidermal growth factor (EGF) - a type of mitogen and its transmembrane receptor (EGFR), decides the fate of the cell's proliferation. When EGF binds to EGFR, a member of the ErbB family of tyrosine kinase...
6.6K
01:24Cells of the Epidermis
4.1K
The epidermis is made of four or five layers of epithelial cells, depending on its location in the body. From deep to superficial, these layers are the stratum basale, stratum spinosum, stratum granulosum, stratum lucidum, and stratum corneum.
The cells in all these layers except the stratum basale are called keratinocytes, a type of cell that manufactures and stores the protein keratin. The keratinocytes in the stratum corneum are dead and regularly slough away, being replaced by cells from...
The cells in all these layers except the stratum basale are called keratinocytes, a type of cell that manufactures and stores the protein keratin. The keratinocytes in the stratum corneum are dead and regularly slough away, being replaced by cells from...
4.1K
01:12Role Of Notch Signalling In Intestinal Stem Cell Renewal
2.2K
Notch signaling was first discovered in Drosophila melanogaster, where it is involved in cell lineage differentiation. Notch signaling regulates the maintenance and differentiation of intestinal stem cells or ISCs by controlling the expression of atonal homolog 1 or Atoh1. Atoh1 directs cells to differentiate into secretory cells.
Direct cell-to-cell contact is needed for the activation of Notch signaling. The signal is initiated when a notch ligand binds to a receptor on an adjacent cell, also...
Direct cell-to-cell contact is needed for the activation of Notch signaling. The signal is initiated when a notch ligand binds to a receptor on an adjacent cell, also...
2.2K
01:29Somatic to iPS Cell Reprogramming
2.3K
Reprogramming alters the gene expression in somatic cells, transforming them into induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells over several generations. Scientists can reprogram cells by introducing genes for four transcription factors—Oct4, Sox2, Klf4, and c-Myc (OSKM) by viral or non-viral methods. These factors are also known as Yamanaka factors after Shinya Yamanaka, who first generated iPS cells using mouse skin cells. Yamanaka was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 2012...
2.3K