Hair Follicle Development in Mouse Pluripotent Stem Cell-Derived Skin Organoids

The study demonstrated that hair follicle-bearing skin organoids could be generated in vitro from mouse pluripotent stem cells in a 3D culture, mimicking normal embryonic hair folliculogenesis. It highlighted the importance of modulating TGF, FGF, and BMP signaling pathways for hair follicle formation and found that different cell lines showed varying efficiencies in hair follicle production. The optimal condition for hair follicle formation involved full treatment with SB/BMP-FGF/LDN, significantly increasing the percentage of organoids generating 15 or more hair follicles. While the organoids recapitulated key features of skin differentiation and hair follicle induction, some cellular compartments, like melanocytes, were less frequently observed, indicating a need for further optimization. The study underscored the potential of skin organoids for studying hair follicle induction, testing hair growth or inhibitory drugs, and modeling skin diseases, although improvements were needed for the maturation and longevity of hair follicle stem cell niches.