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Stem cells

Epidermis — a population in question

Nature Reviews Molecular Cell Biology volume 8, page 273 (2007)Cite this article

Instead, the epidermis is maintained by a single type of progenitor that divides to give two, one or no cycling daughters...

The mammalian epidermis is organized into hair follicles interspersed with interfollicular epidermis (IFE), which comprises layers of keratinocytes. The basal layer consists of proliferating cells that maintain the tissue and post-mitotic basal cells, which migrate out of the basal layer as they differentiate. According to the 'stem/transit-amplifying (TA) cell' hypothesis, the epidermis is maintained by two discrete populations of progenitor cells; long-lived, self-renewing stem cells, which give rise to short-lived progenitors (TA cells). The TA cells in turn generate differentiated cells after a few rounds of cell division.

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ORIGINAL RESEARCH PAPER

  1. Clayton, E. et al. A single type of progenitor cell maintains normal epidermis. Nature 28 Feb 2007 (doi:10.1038/nature05574)

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Authors
  1. Ekat Kritikou
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Kritikou, E. Epidermis — a population in question. Nat Rev Mol Cell Biol 8, 273 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1038/nrm2151

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