FIG. 5.

Vitamin C induces the hair-regenerative potential of ASCs. Vitamin C-treated ASCs (ASC^vit.C) induced the telogen-to-anagen transition in C₃H/HeN mice, and ASC-CM harvested after vitamin C treatment (vit.C-CM) increased hair length and the number of Ki₆₇-positive cells in hair organ culture. (A) Compared with ASC injection (1×10⁴ cells), subcutaneous injection of ASC^vit.C accelerated the telogen-to-anagen transition in C₃H/HeN mice. (B) Hair weight in C₃H mice was significantly increased in the ASC^vit.C-injected group on day 12. (C) Ex vivo hair organ culture was performed after the addition of conditioned medium derived from ASCs (ASC-CM) or vit.C-CM to William's E medium. Compared with hair length in ASC-CM culture, hair length was significantly increased in vit.C-CM-enriched medium after 6 days of organ culture. (D) Anti-Ki₆₇ antibody staining of hair follicles showed that the number of Ki₆₇-positive matrix keratinocytes around the dermal papilla was significantly increased by vit.C-CM treatment. Data are mean±SEM (*P<0.05, **P<0.01, Student's t-test). Color images available online at www.liebertpub.com/scd