Follicle in Biological News

Plastics chemical retards growth, function of adult reproductive cells

... to BPA," she said. The new study found that follicle growth was impaired after 48 hours of exposure to ... 10 micrograms per milliliter of BPA, mouse follicle cells produced about 85 percent less estradiol, ... on steroid hormone levels. And at 120 hours, follicle cells grown in the BPA medium were 25 percent ...

UT Southwestern researchers identify hundreds of genes controlling female fertility

... focused on a gene called Foxo3, which controls follicle activation. Normally, follicles are activated on ... maturation meant that the genes controlling follicle growth were all turned on at the same time, ... that they could function specifically in follicle growth. Some of the genes the researchers ...

USC researchers identify mechanism that controls activation of stem cells during hair regeneration

... stem cells are regulated not only by the micro-environment within one hair follicle -- as has previously been thought -- but also by adjacent hair follicles, ... the study. "I hope that our research will draw more attention to the hair follicle as the model for physiological regeneration in mammals, and as an abundant ...

Continuous oral contraceptives better at easing pain, bleeding

... regimen. Women in the continuous group also had a significant decline in circulating and urinary estrogen levels, total ovarian volume and lead follicle size all biomarkers that indicate the ovary is less active and reported less pain and behavioral changes compared to women in the cyclic group. ...

Columbia geneticists uncover new gene involved in determining hair texture and density in humans

... woolly hair patients showed irregular bending without attachment of the root sheath." They propose that mutations in P2RY5 most likely result in hair follicle disruptions, which then compromise its anchoring to the hair shaft and cause the abnormal bending of the bulb region, leading to woolly hair. Dr. ...

New technology addresses female fertility preservation

... immature eggs to grow and mature in vitro. (A follicle is a small spherical group of specialized support ... alginate maintain normal connections between follicle and egg, resulting in the development of eggs, ... the three-dimensional support to maintain the follicle structure in which the egg must grow. "While ...

Bedsores and bald hides: Novel roles revealed for a 'scaffolding' protein

... role for the same protein in promoting hair follicle growth, although the investigators were quick to ... scarring." K17's role in maintaining hair follicle strength is probably centered on its capacity to control the timing of follicle cell death during normal hair growth cycles, says ...

USC researchers track down the stem cells that create feathers

... epithelial stem cells within a chicken-feather follicle by giving the chickens water containing a ... the quill of the feather is dislodged from the follicle with a tapered proximal opening-the very feature ... and differentiating cells within the feather follicle allows for continuous growth, shedding, and ...

Researchers identify a key regulator for skin stem cells

... found that the gene for Tcf3 is activated in a region of the adult hair follicle called the bulge, where stem cells are expected to be. They also knew from ... The researchers reasoned that if Tcf3 plays a role in maintaining adult follicle cells, it would also be present in embryonic skin, which consists mainly ...

Robotic whiskers can sense three-dimensional environment

... upwards or downwards by contact with the object. The mechanical bending of the whisker activates many thousands of sensory receptors located in the follicle at the whisker base. The receptors, in turn, send neural signals to the brain, where a three-dimensional image is presumably generated. Hartmann ...

Stem cells found in adult hair follicles may provide alternative to embryonic stem cells

... rise to the autonomic and enteric nervous systems along with endocrine cells, bone and smooth muscle cells. The cells can be isolated from the hair follicle bulge as multipotent stem cells, and then expanded in culture into millions of cells without losing stem cell markers. "We grafted the cells ...

Study finds that a woman's chances of having twins can be modified by diet

... -- in response to growth hormone, circulates in the blood and makes its way into the animal's milk. IGF increases the sensitivity of the ovaries to follicle stimulating hormone, thereby increasing ovulation. Some studies also suggest that IGF may help embryos survive in the early stages of development. ...

Study finds how organs monitor themselves during early development

... "Different cell types speak to each other, control each other and function together when an organ grows," she says. In the human ovary for example, a follicle ripens every month. Without the somatic cells of the ovary, the egg on its own would not ripen. The eggs need this environment for their development, ...

Component in soy products causes reproductive problems in laboratory mice

... egg cells from separating apart," said Wendy Jefferson, Ph.D. of NIEHS and lead researcher on the paper. "Since there are many egg cells in the same follicle instead of just one, the resources from the surrounding cells are spread too thin and they can't get the support they need to become a mature ...

New brain hormone puts brakes on reproduction

... which communicates via a blood portal with the anterior pituitary and stimulates production of the hormones gonadotropin, luteinizing hormone and follicle stimulating hormone. These hormones are dumped into the bloodstream and make their way to the gonads, where in males they stimulate production of ...

Human embryonic stem cells have the potential to develop into eggs and sperm in the laboratory

... "Producing functional gametes is much more difficult, because we have to recreate for the cultured cells the environment of the developing follicle for egg development or the tissue of the testis for sperm. We want to test whether HESCs can differentiate to cells that produce the hormones for ...

Mother birds increase progesterone to hatch females

... of 63 percent males. The high dose of progesterone, however, produced only 25 percent males. "Thus, we think that how much progesterone the female follicle produces during the first meiosis is the mechanism in birds that manipulates the sex ratio of offspring," says Adkins-Regan. "Researchers think ...

Hirsute Or Hairless? Two Proteins May Spell The Difference

... seen here in the hair bud more closely resemble certain types of skin cancer progression than skin development, a mechanistic understanding of hair follicle development promises to shed light on how skin cancer develops as well. ...

U-M scientists find genes that control growth of common skin cancer

... fully-formed hair follicles. These results suggest that BCCs contain cells capable of multi-lineage differentiation, similar to normal hair follicle stem cells from which they may arise. If the results of this study are applicable to human BCC, the discovery of residual tumor cells and tumor ...

Weizmann Institute scientists develop a new approach for directing treatment to metastasized prostate cancer in the bones.

... The scientists were surprised to observe that, at the same time and the same rate, differentiated, pigmented melanocytes were showing up in the follicle at the location where the stem cells resided. Since they were in the wrong place, the pigmented cells likely did nothing to maintain the mice’s hair ...

Fundamental Finding Yields Insight into Stem Cells, Cancer; Opens Door to Drug Discovery

... The scientists were surprised to observe that, at the same time and the same rate, differentiated, pigmented melanocytes were showing up in the follicle at the location where the stem cells resided. Since they were in the wrong place, the pigmented cells likely did nothing to maintain the mice’s hair ...

Scientists discover the cellular roots of graying hair

... The scientists were surprised to observe that, at the same time and the same rate, differentiated, pigmented melanocytes were showing up in the follicle at the location where the stem cells resided. Since they were in the wrong place, the pigmented cells likely did nothing to maintain the mice’s hair ...