Figure 4

Piloerection ability of ectopically transplanted regenerated hair follicles.

(a) Immunohistochemical analysis of the regenerated hair follicles in the sub-renal capsule at day 14 (center) and 22 days after transplantation into the back skin (right) and natural back skin (left). Specific antibodies against calponin (Cal, to detect smooth muscle, red) and neurofilament H (NF, white) were used. The boxed areas in each panel are shown at a higher magnification in the lower panels. The nuclei were stained using Hoechst 33258 (Nuc, blue). The arrows and arrowheads show positively stained calponin and NF-H areas. (b) Analyses of the piloerection ability of the transplanted regenerated hair follicles following an intradermal injection of ACh. The positions of the hair shafts (black arrowheads in left) moved after this treatment (white arrowheads in center) and merged (right). (c) Assessment of hair angle changes associated with regenerated hair (light bars) and natural hair (dark bars) before (PBS(-)) and after the administration of ACh. The error bars represent the standard deviation (n = 6). P<0.05 (*) was regarded as statistically significant.