Hair Follicle Culture

Hair follicle organ culture allows individual hair follicles from many species to be maintained in culture during which time hair fiber is produced. Cultured hair follicles can be used to investigate the role of hair growth regulatory factors especially with regards hair growth stimulation and anagen to catagen transition, metabolism and the process of hair fiber synthesis. They are also responsive to drugs and small molecules and as such can be used to dissect the role of signal transduction pathways in the regulation of hair biology. Although a number of papers have reported the use of cultured hair follicles to investigate regulation of the hair cycle with the exception of anagen to catagen transition, we have still to model the entire hair cycle in vitro and this is one major limitation of the model. We also have to accept that despite the best efforts it is still difficult to keep follicles in culture much beyond 10 days. However, the model should prove an excellent system with which to use siRNA and this may open up an ever greater understanding of the factors that regulate hair biology.