Advances in Clinical and Experimental Medicine

Title abbreviation: Adv Clin Exp Med
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ISSN 1899–5276 (print)
ISSN 2451-2680 (online)
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Advances in Clinical and Experimental Medicine

2018, vol. 27, nr 7, July, p. 929–939

doi: 10.17219/acem/74429

Publication type: original article

Language: English

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Assessment of markers expressed in human hair follicles according to different skin regions

Arzu Yay1,A,B,C,D,E, Özge Göktepe1,B,C, Anzel Bahadir2,D,E, Saim Özdamar1,A, Ibrahim Suat Öktem3,B, Atilla Çoruh4,B, Münevver Baran5,C,D

1 Department of Histology and Embryology, Faculty of Medicine, Erciyes University, Kayseri, Turkey

2 Department of Biophysics, Faculty of Medicine, Düzce University, Turkey

3 Department of Neurosurgery, Faculty of Medicine, Erciyes University, Kayseri, Turkey

4 Department of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, Faculty of Medicine, Erciyes University, Kayseri, Turkey

5 Department of Pharmaceutical Basic Science, Faculty of Pharmacy, Erciyes University, Kayseri, Turkey

Abstract

Background. Body region-dependent hair follicle (HF) characteristics are concerned with follicular size and distribution, and have been demonstrated to have characteristics for each region of the body.
Objectives. The aim of the present study was to investigate the expression patterns of the markers called cytokeratin 15 (K15), cytokeratin 6 (K6) and monoclonal antibody Ki-67, and also apoptosis in HFs, which can be observed in different parts of the human body.
Material and Methods. In this study, healthy human HFs were taken by biopsy from 5 various donor sites of the human body: the scalp, the leg, the abdomen, the back and waist. HF-containing skin specimens taken using cryosection were stained with hematoxylin & eosin (H&E) and K15, K6, Ki-67 and terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase-mediated digoxigenin-dNTP nick end-labelling (TUNEL) immunofluorescence staining protocol was performed.
Results. Different skin regions from the human body were examined histologically. While the HFs of scalp tissue showed anatomically obvious hair layers, some hair sections from other regions, like the leg, the abdomen, back and waist, were not as distinct as in the scalp region. According to our findings, K15 expression was highest in the scalp. In addition, the immunoreactivity (IR) intensity of K15 was significantly decreased in the HFs on the waist and abdominal regions, compared to the scalp and back regions (p < 0.001). However, the IR intensity of K6 in the scalp region was statistically significantly higher than the IR intensity of K6 in the abdomen region (p < 0.05). Moreover, we showed intraepithelial apoptosis and proliferation of keratinocytes in the bulge of HF. In the study, Ki-67-positive and TUNEL-positive cell numbers were not statistically significant (p > 0.05).
Conclusion. Our findings are important for further investigation of molecular aspects of the human hair follicle stem cells compartments in health and disease, which might be a promising model for comparative studies with different human diseases.

Key words

monoclonal antibody Ki-67, terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase-mediated digoxigenin-dNTP nick end-labelling, hair follicle, cytokeratin 15, cytokeratin 6

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