Changes in hair growth characteristics following the wounding of vibrissa follicles in the hooded rat

Abstract

The effect on hair growth of wounding the lower region of whisker follicles, and in particular the dermal papilla, with sharply pointed tungsten needles was studied in adult hooded rats. Following injury hair growth ceased, but was subsequently resumed. While it might have been anticipated that follicle wounding would have a negative effect on whisker length, regular postoperative length measurements revealed that in follicles where cellular material was not displaced from the follicle by the original manipulation, 50% of the subsequent hairs produced were longer than their counterparts on the opposite side of the face, with 25% shorter and 25% with their length unchanged. In every case increased hair length was achieved by a prolongation of the growing period of the hair. Growth rate, when altered, was reduced. These results suggest that the factors which control the duration of the hair cycle and fibre growth rate are independent in vibrissa follicles. Since removal of most of the epidermal component by plucking of the hair just prior to injury produced equivalent hair length increases, this implicated the proximal dermal components as being mainly responsible for the observed changes.