Fig. 2

Decreased expression of CD34, a hair follicle stem cell (HFSC) marker, in the hairpoor mouse. a Immunofluorescence analyses of K15 (green) and CD34 (red) in wild-type and hairpoor mice at the telogen phases. The arrow indicates K15 and CD34 doubly positive bulges and the arrowhead K15 only positive bulges. Nuclei were counterstained with DAPI. Bulge, Bu; scale bar = 50 μm. b Number of K15 or CD34 positive HFs per 1 mm section of the back skin of wild-type and hairpoor mouse (mouse number n ≥ 4 per genotype). Data are mean ± SD. *P < 0.05, **P < 0.01. c qRT-PCR analysis of Cd34 in the hairpoor and the wild-type mouse. (Mouse number n ≥ 3 per genotype). Expression level of Cd34 was normalized against that of Gapdh, and relative expression level was determined using one of the wild-type levels as reference. Data are mean ± SD, ***P < 0.001. d Representative result of the flow cytometry analysis at telogen phases. e Proportion of the ITGA6⁺/CD34⁺ HFSC in the epidermal cells prepared from the back skins of the hairpoor and wild-type mouse. Data are mean ± SD. n = 3 mice per genotype. **P < 0.01, ***P < 0.001