Distinct Contribution of Stem and Progenitor Cells to Epidermal Maintenance

Overview

Journal Nature

Specialty Science

Date 2012 Sep 4

PMID 22940863

Citations 288

Authors

Guilhem Mascre

Sophie Dekoninck

Benjamin Drogat

Khalil Kass Youssef

Sylvain Brohee

Panagiota A Sotiropoulou

Benjamin D Simons

Cedric Blanpain

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

The skin interfollicular epidermis (IFE) is the first barrier against the external environment and its maintenance is critical for survival. Two seemingly opposite theories have been proposed to explain IFE homeostasis. One posits that IFE is maintained by long-lived slow-cycling stem cells that give rise to transit-amplifying cell progeny, whereas the other suggests that homeostasis is achieved by a single committed progenitor population that balances stochastic fate. Here we probe the cellular heterogeneity within the IFE using two different inducible Cre recombinase–oestrogen receptor constructs targeting IFE progenitors in mice. Quantitative analysis of clonal fate data and proliferation dynamics demonstrate the existence of two distinct proliferative cell compartments arranged in a hierarchy involving slow-cycling stem cells and committed progenitor cells. After wounding, only stem cells contribute substantially to the repair and long-term regeneration of the tissue, whereas committed progenitor cells make a limited contribution.

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