Elsevier

Gene Expression Patterns

Volume 9, Issue 6, September 2009, Pages 454-460
Gene Expression Patterns

Dynamic expression of Syndecan-1 during hair follicle morphogenesis

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gep.2009.04.004Get rights and content

Abstract

Syndecan-1 is a cell-surface heparan-sulphate proteoglycan that is involved in growth factor regulation, cell adhesion, proliferation, differentiation, blood coagulation, lipid metabolism, as well as tumour formation. In this study, investigation of discrete LCM captured dermal cells by semi-quantitative RT-PCR revealed Syndecan-1 mRNA transcripts were expressed only in the dermal condensation (DC) within this skin compartment during murine pelage hair follicle (HF) morphogenesis. Further immunofluorescence studies showed that, during early skin development, Syndecan-1 was expressed in the epidermis while being absent from the mesenchyme. As HF morphogenesis began (∼E14.5) Syndecan-1 expression was lost from the epithelial compartment of the HF and activated in HF mesenchymal cells. This Syndecan-1 expression profile was consistent between different hair follicle types including primary and secondary pelage, vibrissa, and tail hair follicles. Furthermore we show by using gene targeted mice lacking Syndecan-1 expression that Syndecan-1 is not required for follicle initiation and development.

Section snippets

Results and discussion

Syndecan-1 is a cell-surface heparan-sulphate proteoglycan (HSPG) which in the adult is predominantly expressed by simple epithelial cells being only transiently expressed during development in condensing mesenchymes, including kidney (Vainio et al., 1989b), the developing limb mesenchyme (Solursh et al., 1990) and tooth (Thesleff et al., 1988, Vainio et al., 1989a), where Syndecan-1 accumulates in the mesenchymal cells which underlie the presumptive dental epithelium prior to formation of the

Tissue processing for Laser capture micro-dissection

Immediately following euthanasia the torso of E14.5 mice were embedded in TissueTek OCT compound (Agar Aids), snap frozen in liquid nitrogen and stored at −80 °C. Cryosections (10 μm) were thaw-mounted on P.A.L.M. slides (P.A.L.M. Microlaser Technologies AG, Bernried, Germany), stained with Hematoxylin/Eosin and dehydrated.

Laser capture micro-dissection

A total of 350 DCs and adjacent dermal fibroblasts were laser captured using the Positioning Ablation Laser MicroBeam® (PALM®) Micro-Laser system running PALM@Robo 3.2 software

Acknowledgments

We thank members of the Christiano Lab, Department of Genetics and Development, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA, for their helpful discussions, and the late Professor Merton Bernfield for Syndecan-1 knock-out animals. We also thank members of the LSSU at Durham for their assistance. This work was supported by a generous grant from the BBSRC (Grant No. G18988) to CABJ.

References (29)

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