Treatment of MSCs with Wnt1a-conditioned medium activates DP cells and promotes hair follicle regrowth.

Sci Rep. 2014 Jun 25;4:5432. doi: 10.1038/srep05432.
Treatment of MSCs with Wnt1a-conditioned medium activates DP cells and promotes hair follicle regrowth.
Dong L1, Hao H1, Xia L2, Liu J3, Ti D3, Tong C3, Hou Q3, Han Q3, Zhao Y4, Liu H3, Fu X3, Han W3.

Hair loss (alopecia) is a common problem for people. The dermal papilla is the key signaling center that regulates hair growth and it engage in crosstalk with the microenvironment, including Wnt signaling and stem cells. In this study, we explored the effects of bone marrow mesenchymal stem cell overexpression of Wnt1a on mouse hair follicle regeneration. Wnt-CM accelerated hair follicle progression from telogen to anagen and enhanced the ALP expression in the DP area. Moreover, the hair induction-related genes were upregulated, as demonstrated by qRT-PCR. Wnt-CM treatment restored and increased DP cell expression of genes downregulated by dihydrotestosterone treatment, as demonstrated by qRT-PCR assays. Our study reveals that BM-MSC-generated Wnt1a promotes the DP's ability to induce hair cycling and regeneration.