JOURNAL ARTICLE
RESEARCH SUPPORT, NON-U.S. GOV'T
Add like
Add dislike
Add to saved papers

Contractile smooth muscle cells derived from hair-follicle stem cells.

AIMS: We hypothesized that hair-follicle stem cells can differentiate toward smooth contractile muscle cells, providing an autologous cell source for cardiovascular tissue regeneration.

METHODS AND RESULTS: Smooth muscle progenitor cells (SMPCs) were obtained from ovine hair follicles using a tissue-specific promoter and fluorescence-activated cell sorting. Hair-follicle smooth muscle progenitor cells (HF-SMPCs) expressed several markers of vascular smooth muscle including alpha-actin, calponin, myosin heavy chain (MHC), caldesmon, smoothelin, and SM22. HF-SMPCs were highly proliferative and showed high clonogenic potential without any signs of chromosomal abnormalities as evidenced by karyotype analysis. HF-SMPCs compacted fibrin hydrogels to a similar extent as vascular smooth muscle cells from ovine umbilical veins (V-SMCs), indicating the development of the force-generating machinery. In addition, cylindrical tissue equivalents prepared with HF-SMPCs displayed significant contractility in response to vasoactive agonists including KCl and the thromboxane A2 mimetic U46619, suggesting that these cells had developed receptor and non-receptor-mediated pathways of contractility. Finally, transforming growth factor-beta1 promoted differentiation of HF-SMPCs toward a mature SMC phenotype as suggested by increased expression of MHC and enhanced matrix compaction.

CONCLUSION: Our results suggest that hair follicles may be an easily accessible, autologous, and rich source of functional SMPC for cardiovascular tissue engineering and regenerative medicine.

Full text links

We have located links that may give you full text access.
Can't access the paper?
Try logging in through your university/institutional subscription. For a smoother one-click institutional access experience, please use our mobile app.

For the best experience, use the Read mobile app

Mobile app image

Get seemless 1-tap access through your institution/university

For the best experience, use the Read mobile app

All material on this website is protected by copyright, Copyright © 1994-2024 by WebMD LLC.
This website also contains material copyrighted by 3rd parties.

By using this service, you agree to our terms of use and privacy policy.

Your Privacy Choices Toggle icon

You can now claim free CME credits for this literature searchClaim now

Get seemless 1-tap access through your institution/university

For the best experience, use the Read mobile app