A summary of the major events of the hair cycle, and known …

• Introduction
• Morphogenesis
• Anagen
• Anagen-to-catagen transition
• Catagen
• Telogen
• The follicle stem cell compartment
• Telogen-to-anagen transition
• References
• Figure

Biology Articles » Anatomy & Physiology » The hair cycle » The follicle stem cell compartment

The follicle stem cell compartment

- The hair cycle

Although no new hair follicles are made postnatally, the lowerportion of the hair follicle regenerates in order to producea new hair. For this purpose, and for the maintenance of theepidermis and sebaceous gland, reservoirs of multipotent epithelialstem cells are set aside during development. These preciouscells are found in the lowest permanent portion of the hairfollicle – the `bulge' (Oshima et al., 2001; Taylor etal., 2000). Follicle stem cells are activated at the telogen-to-anagentransition, to initiate a new round of hair growth.