Figure 6.

PCR array analysis showing a comparison of the inflammatory and immune response gene profile in hairless and haired mice. A: Clustering analysis of the expression of 84 genes related to inflammatory cytokines/chemokines and their receptors in the skin of hairless and haired animals. A clustering pattern is indicated at the left side of the diagram. Genes with higher correlation coefficients across different samples are clustered together by rows. Thus, genes within the same cluster represent closer expression patterns than genes in different clusters. Each row represents a single gene labeled with the gene name, whereas each column represents an independent skin sample. The color in each cell reflects the gene expression level of the corresponding sample. The color scale at the bottom indicates the magnitude of gene expression. Expression levels greater than the mean are shaded in red, and those lower than the mean are shaded in green. B: Graphs showing relative gene expression levels of types 1 (Th1), 2 (Th2), and 17 (Th17) helper T-cell–associated inflammatory cytokines/chemokines and their receptors in the skin of haired and hairless mice. C: PGE2 levels in control (age-matched) and UVB-irradiated skin of haired and hairless mice. Data represent means ± SEM of at least three independent samples. ^∗P < 0.05. C, control; US, UVB-irradiated skin.