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Human melanocytes can be isolated, propagated and expanded from plucked anagen hair follicles
Author(s) -
Dieckmann Christina,
Milkova Linda,
Hunziker Thomas,
Emmendörffer Andreas,
Simon Jan C.
Publication year - 2010
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/j.1600-0625.2009.01019.x
Subject(s) - melanocyte , outer root sheath , follicular phase , hair follicle , melanin , scalp , tyrosinase , biology , human skin , immunohistochemistry , hair cycle , organ culture , population , endocrinology , pathology , medicine , microbiology and biotechnology , anatomy , immunology , in vitro , melanoma , cancer research , biochemistry , genetics , environmental health , enzyme
Please cite this paper as: Human melanocytes can be isolated, propagated and expanded from plucked anagen hair follicles. Experimental Dermatology 2010; 19: 543–545. Abstract: Herein, we report a technically simple method for isolation and culture of human follicular melanocytes based on explant cultures of epilated hair follicles. This technique does not require any surgical intervention and allows the isolation and cultivation of follicular melanocytes from a comparatively small amount of raw material. Generally, 30–60 human anagen hair follicles have been plucked from the scalp of healthy donors and cultivated under low oxygen pressure (5%). After a short period of time cells of various types were growing out from the outer root sheath (ORS) of the hair follicles. Under the selected culture conditions, most of the cells other than melanocytes have been eliminated and a nearly 100% pure population of melanocytes has been achieved, as confirmed by immunohistochemical analyses for melanocyte‐specific markers, for example, Tyrosinase‐1, S‐100 and premelanosomal antigens. These melanocytes derived from the ORS were proliferating for up to 2 months.