Sensitive Quantitative In Vivo Assay for Evaluating the Effects of Biomolecules on Hair Growth and Coloring Using Direct Microinjections into Mouse Whisker Follicles.

ABSTRACT: Many people suffer from hair loss and abnormal skin pigmentation, highlighting the need for simple assays to support drug discovery research. Current assays have various limitations, such as being in vitro only, not sensitive enough, or unquantifiable. We took advantage of the bilateral symmetry and large size of mouse whisker follicles to develop a novel in vivo assay called "whisker follicle microinjection assay". In this assay, we plucked mouse whiskers and then injected molecules directly into one side of the whisker follicles using microneedles that were a similar size to the whiskers, and we injected solvent on the other side as a control. Once the whiskers grew out again, we quantitatively measured their length and color intensity to evaluate the effects of the molecules on hair gro

SUBMITTER: Gao L 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10377598 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature