Fig. 1.

Clonal maintenance of epidermal appendages. K14⁺ basal keratinocyte clones (purple) self-renew within the keratinocyte layer in control (A) and denervated (B) epidermis of the hind limb and differentiate into corneal layers of epidermis. 1, 2, 3, and 4 indicate numeral values of single K14⁺ basal keratinocytes in a single clone. Sweat glands are populated by small clones in myoepithelial and luminal cells, indicating slow continuous replacement in control (C) and denervated (D) glands. Sweat ducts bridging sweat gland and epidermis display similar clonal expansion within duct structures, indicating intrinsic self-renewal capabilities of control (E) and denervated (F) ducts. Clones populate hair follicle (hf) bulge, sebaceous gland (sg), and interfollicular epidermal (ife) regions within control (G) and denervated (H) limbs but are not observed to span multiple regions. Proportions of hair follicle populations in anagen (growth), catagen (transition), and telogen (rest) phases (I) in control and denervated limbs show statistically similar proportions of hair follicles in each phase in the absence of nerves.