Serial Cultivation of Single Keratinocytes from the Outer Root Sheath of Human Scalp Hair Follicles
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Serial Cultivation of Single Keratinocytes from the Outer Root Sheath of Human Scalp Hair Follicles A lain Limat, Ph.D. and Friedrich K. N aser, Ph.D. Cosmital SA, Marl y, Switze rl and (Resea rch Compa ny of We ll a AG, Darmstadt, F. R.G.) A m e tho d fo r the isolatio n of o uter root sheath k eratino h air follicle (yielding approximately 1. 5 X 104 cells) con cytes from pluck ed human hair follicles and for their sub sistentl y gave rise to a confluent 35-mm culture dish (with sequent cultivatio n h as been develop ed. T he selective tryp approximately 1.5 X 106 cells) w ithin abo ut 2 weeks. The sinizatio n of o uter root sheath k eratinocytes provided a o u ter root sh eath k eratinocytes can be serially p assaged for sin gle cell su spension of d efined o rigin within the h air fol up to 3 times and also cryopreserved . J In vest Derm ato! licle. T h e 3T3 feede r layer technique suppo rts su stained 87:485- 488, 1986 growth of these cells in that as little as o ne single pluck ed lucked hair folli cles were fi rst used as a convenient bi the fo llicles were transferred in to a 35-mm Petri dish. The re opsy material fo r the study of geneti c disorders and for maining liquid was sucked off and 10 fo llicles covered with 200 diagnosti c purposes. T hereafter, it beca me evident that ILl 0.1 % trypsin (1: 250) and 0.02% EDTA in phosphate-buffered hair fo llicles provide an interesting model system of saline (PBS) without Ca + + and M g + + (pH 7.2) and incubated epithelial ce ll s for more fundamenta l biomedi ca l re for 10 min at 3rc. T hereafter, a sin gle cell suspension was ob Psearch [1] . tained by vigorously pipetting the fo llicles in D M EM supple In recent years several meth ods have been devel oped for es mented with 10% newborn calf serum. For SO I11.e experiments, tablishing primary cul tures of human hair follicle cell s. Weterings the remaining keratinocytes still ad hering to the follicles were et al [2] were first able to grow human hair follicle keratinocytes sequentiall y removed by 2 additional trypsinization steps of 10 by expl anting plucked scalp hair follicles on bovine eye lens ca p min and 30 min, res pecti vel y. T he dissociated keratinocytes were sules. Si milarl y, Wells succeeded in explanting plucked human centrifuged fo r 10 min at 200 g and cells from one fo llicle resus hair follicles di rectl y on tiss ue cul ture plastic [3]. Recently, we pended in 2 ml of complete culture medium each. T he culture became interested in the study of epi theli al- mesenchymal inter medium consisted of 3 parts of D M EM (Seromed) , containing actions, especiall y concerning the hair fo llicle biology. For this sodium pyru vate and 1 g/liter glucose, and 1 part of Ham 's F-1 2 pu rpose, we aimed to initiate primary cultures of disaggregated (Seromed), supplemented w ith 10% fetal calf serum (Gibco), 5 hair follicle cells in order to in crease the proli fera ti ve ca pacity of ILg/ml in sulin (S igma), 0.4 ILg/ml hydrocortisone (S igma), 0.135 the primary hair keratinocytes and to get a more defined and mM adenine, 2 nM trii odothyronine, 0. 1 nM choleratoxin (S igma), standardized cul ture system . 10 ng/llll epidermal growth factor (Seragen) , and antibiotics (50 In this report, we describe a method for the growth of prim ary U / ml penicillin and 50 IL g/ml streptomycin) modified after Gilfix cultures starting from dissociated human hair follicles and for and Green [4]. T he keratinocytes were seeded at a density of2-3 2 their serial cul tivati on. T he method consists essentiall y in dis X 103 cells/clll2 on a 3T3 fee der layer (2 X 10" cells/cm ) (ATCC aggregating the outer root sheath keratinocytes with tryp CCL 92) prepared according to Rheinwald and Green [5]. T he sin/EDT A and by plating them on a pre form.ed 3T3 fee der layer. 3T3 cell proli fera ti on had been halted by a treatment with 6 ILg/ml Cells fro m only one single hai r fo llicle give rise to a confluent mitom ycin C (Sigm a) fo r 8 h. 35-mm Petri dish within about 2 weeks with a multipli cation The cultures were incubated at 37°C in a humidified atm osphere 3 factor of 10 and 12 es timated cell generati ons. of 5% CO2 in air and the medium changed tw ice a week. As a rule, the fee der layer was renewed once a week after selective M ATERI ALS AN D M ETH ODS rem oval of the 3T3 cells using 0.02% EDT A [5]. C ell Isolation and Cultivation Hair follicles were plucked from the scalp and the bulk of th e hair shafts cut off. T he fo lli cles Subculture After 2-3 weeks in primary culture, the residual were immersed in D ulbecco's modified Eagle's medium (D MEM ) 3T 3 cells were removed with 0.02% EDTA and the keratinocytes buffered with 25 mM H EPES (N-2-hydroxyethylpiperazine-N '- detached and disaggregated to si ngle cells by incubating with 2-ethanesulfonic acid) and supplemented with 400 U /ml penicillin 0.1 % trypsin (1: 250) and 0.02% EDTA in PBS (pH 7.2) at 37°C and 400 ILg/ml streptomycin. T hose in anagen phase, indicated for 15-30 min. T he dispersed cells were replated in cul ture me by the visible bulb and intact outer root sheath, were ca refull y dium at a density of 50 cells to 104 cells/cm2 on a fres h 3T3 feeder selected under the dissecting microscope. After 2 additional rinses, layer. Cryopreservation For storage in liquid nitrogen the cells were released from culture dishes as described' above. After 1 wash Manuscrip t received October 16, 1985; accepted for publi ca tion March with culture medium, 106 cells were res uspended in 1 ml culture 28, 1986. medium containing 10% glycerol, transferred into a cryotube Reprint requ ests to: Alain Limat, Ph. D., Cos mital SA, Rtc de Chcsa li es (Nunc), and placed within a styrofoam container in a - 80°C 21, CH-1723 Marl y, Sw itze rl and . Abbrevi ations: freeze r. After 24 h the tubes were transferred to a liquid nitrogen DMEM: Dul becco's modi fied Eagle's med ium ta nk. To recover the cells fro m frozen storage, the tubes were PBS : phos phate-buffe red sa line warmed to 37°C and the suspension diluted in culture m edium . 0022-202X/86/lG03.50 Copyri ght © 1986 by The Society for In vestigative Derm atology, Inc. 485 486 L1MAT AND NOSER THE JOURNAL OF INVESTIG ATIVE DERMATOLOGY Figure 1. Plucked adult human scalp hair follicle. A , Whole hai r follicle with its usu all y almost intact outer root sheath in the portion between the upper part of the hair bulb and the presumptive level of the se baceous gland which is normally absent. Unstained, bar = 0.5 mm. B, Transversal secti on of the middle third of a hair follicle. The peripheral layer of the columnar basa l cells is often preserved over an extensive portion of the circumferen ce. H&E, bar = 50 /-Lm. A The cell s were washed and then inoculated at a density of 2 x final enzym atic digestion of 30 min removed the remainder of 104 cells/cm 2 onto a feeder layer. the outer root shea th cell s, leavin g behind the denuded inner root sheath (Fig 4) . Histologic Examination Confluent cultures of hair follicle ke ratinocytes grown in culture dishes were detached as epithelial Cell Culture Primary cultures of hair follicle keratinocytes could sheets according to Green et al. [6] and Watt [7]. Briefly, the be routinely es tablished by plating cells disaggregated from one cultures were incubated with Dispase II (Boehringer Mannheim) single hair follicle on a preformed 3T3 feeder layer in a 35-mm at 1. 2 units/ml in PBS. After about 15 min at 37°C, the epithelial culture dish or from 10 follicles on a 3T3 feeder layer in a 100- sheet started to separate from the plasti c surface. The detachment mm culture dish. The seedin g efficiency of the keratinocytes at could be accelerated by carefully lifting the sheet with tweezers. the initiation of the primary cultures was 2.6 ± 0.5% (n = 4) . Pieces of the sheet were punched out, stretched over a Whatman After 2-3 days in culture, groups of2-4 keratinocytes surrounded N o.1 fi lter paper,· and washed with PBS. They were th en fixed by 3T3 cell s were visible. These cells formed quickly expanding in Bouin's solu tion for 24 h and processed for wax embedding. colonies pushing away the 3T3 cells. The keratinocytes were of Seri al sections were prepared at 7 J.l.m and stained with hema similar small size and closely packed in a polygonal epitheloid toxylin and eosin . arrangement (Fi g 5) . As long as the colonies were of limited size, In order to facilitate their handling the plucked hair follicles the weekly renewal of the feed er layer proved to be beneficial.