HFC morphology and proliferation potential. HFCs were plated in six-well plates at 104 cells/well and cultured in DMEM with 10% FBS alone (Ctrl) or with 2 ng/mL bFGF. (A) Photomicrograph of HFCs in the presence or absence of bFGF. (B) Cells were cultured in the presence or absence of bFGF and at the indicated times trypsinized, counted, and re-plated at the same density. The cumulative cell number was plotted as mean ± SD of three independent experiments (n = 3). HFCs, hair follicle stem cells; bFGF, basic fibroblast growth factor; DMEM, Dulbecco's modified Eagle's medium; FBS, fetal bovine serum; SD, standard deviation.