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Commentary on: Hairless and the polyamine putrescine form a negative regulatory loop in the epidermis
Author(s) -
Ramot Yuval,
Vardy Leah A.
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
experimental dermatology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.108
H-Index - 96
eISSN - 1600-0625
pISSN - 0906-6705
DOI - 10.1111/exd.12244
Subject(s) - hairless , putrescine , polyamine , hair follicle , hair growth , mutant , microbiology and biotechnology , epidermis (zoology) , phenotype , biology , dermis , hair loss , chemistry , biochemistry , genetics , physiology , anatomy , enzyme , gene
Polyamines are cationic amines essential for cellular proliferation. Recently, their role in hair follicle ( HF ) growth has started to be explored, but their exact function is still obscure. In the October issue of Experimental Dermatology, Luke et al . follow the observation that putrescine overproducing mice and hairless ( HR ) mutant mice show a similar clinical phenotype of hair loss and dermal cyst formation. They show that HR and putrescine form a negative regulatory feedback mechanism, which might regulate hair cycling and therefore control hair growth. This study clearly demonstrates that a strong connection exists between HR and polyamines although there are probably additional molecular pathways involved in the polyamine regulation of hair growth which remain to be discovered.