Research Paper : Analysis of Hair Graying Mechanism Using the Gene Expression Profiling in Graying Hair Bulb

Kim, Min Jung; Kim, Jong Ran; Yoon, Yeongmin; An, Sung Kwan

Journal of the Korean Society of Cosmetology 2012;18(1):100-109.
Published online February 28, 2012.

백모 모구의 유전자 발현 프로파일링을 통한 백모화 기전 분석

김민정, 김종란, 윤영민, 안성관

Research Paper : Analysis of Hair Graying Mechanism Using the Gene Expression Profiling in Graying Hair Bulb

Min Jung Kim, Jong Ran Kim, Yeongmin Yoon, Sung Kwan An

Abstract

Hair bulb is composed of follicular melanocytes, keratinocytes, and dermal papilla fibroblasts and their relationship play an important role in the morphogenesis, growth and graying of the hair. To investigate the cause of graying hair in molecular levels, in this study, we analyzed changes of gene expression in hair bulb obtained from Korean male aged 20`s-30s`. We identified mRNA expression profiles in between graying and black hair bulb using DNA microarray analysis. We found 67 genes with more than 2-fold changes in their expression levels in graying hair bulb as compared with black hair bulb. Among them, 30 genes were up-regulated and 37 genes were down-regulated. The function of 67 genes turned out to be associated with melanogenesis, cell-cell interaction, regulation of calcium concentration, cytokine, keratin and serine type protease inhibition. These results indicate that graying is modulated by changes of the gene expression pattern in hair bulb, regulating various cellular functions.

Key Words: Hair bulb, Graying hair, DNA microarray, Gene expression