Niche interactions in epidermal stem cells

Figure 3 Effects of IGFBP-2 on skin equivalents reconstruction. Skin equivalents (SEs) were cultured with rapidly adhering (RA) cells (A-E) or slowly adhering (SA) cells (F-O). Sections of SEs cultured under different treatments [media only (A-J) and 200 ng/mL IGFBP-2 (K-O)] and stained for hematoxylin and eosin (HE) (A, F, K), α6 integrin (B, G, L), β1 integrin (C, H, M), p63 (D, I, N), and proliferating cell nuclear antigen or proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA) (E, J, O). Addition of IGFBP-2 to culture media increased the expression levels of α6 integrins, β1 integrins, p63, and PCNA in cultured keratinocytes. Original magnification 400 ×. Epidermal thickness was measured at 10 randomly selected locations using an Olysia Soft Imaging System (Olympus). Statistical analysis was performed using the Student’s t-test. ^aP < 0.01 vs SA + no cytokine model.