The world's first wiki where authorship really matters (Nature Genetics, 2008). Due credit and reputation for authors. Imagine a global collaborative knowledge base for original thoughts. Search thousands of articles and collaborate with scientists around the globe.

wikigene or wiki gene protein drug chemical gene disease author authorship tracking collaborative publishing evolutionary knowledge reputation system wiki2.0 global collaboration genes proteins drugs chemicals diseases compound
Hoffmann, R. A wiki for the life sciences where authorship matters. Nature Genetics (2008)
 
 
 
 
 
 

Laminin-10 is crucial for hair morphogenesis.

The role of the extracellular matrix in cutaneous morphogenesis is poorly understood. Here, we describe the essential role of laminin-10 (alpha5beta1gamma1) in hair follicle development. Laminin-10 was present in the basement membrane of elongating hair germs, when other laminins were downregulated, suggesting a role for laminin-10 in hair development. Treatment of human scalp xenografts with antibodies to laminin-10, or its receptor beta1 integrin, produced alopecia. E16.5 Lama5 -/- mouse skin, lacking laminin-10, contained fewer hair germs compared with controls, and after transplantation, Lama5 -/- skin showed a failure of hair germ elongation followed by complete hair follicle regression. Lama5 -/- skin showed defective basement membrane assembly, without measurable increases in anoikis. Instead, Lama5 -/- skin showed decreased expression of early hair markers including sonic hedgehog and Gli1, implicating laminin-10 in developmental signaling. Intriguingly, treatment of Lama5 -/- skin with purified laminin-10 corrected basement membrane defects and restored hair follicle development. We conclude that laminin-10 is required for hair follicle development and report the first use of exogenous protein to correct a cutaneous developmental defect.[1]

References

  1. Laminin-10 is crucial for hair morphogenesis. Li, J., Tzu, J., Chen, Y., Zhang, Y.P., Nguyen, N.T., Gao, J., Bradley, M., Keene, D.R., Oro, A.E., Miner, J.H., Marinkovich, M.P. EMBO J. (2003) [Pubmed]
 
WikiGenes - Universities