Isolation and Culture of Epidermal Stem Cells from the Third Generation of Mice That Were Knocked-out of Terc.

Objective To observe the difference in number of epidermal stem cell and its function between wild-type (WT) mice and the third generation of Terc knockout (G3Terc-/- ) mice. Methods Flowcytometry was used to analyse and sort epidermal stem cells; Quantitative real-time PCR is used to analyse the relative expression level of p21 in epidermal stem cells; Self-renewal ability was reflected by the number of colonies formed by epidermal stem cells. Results Basal and suprabasal ratios in epidermal stem cells in WT mice were (9.56±1.06)% and (1.22±0.08)% respectively; basal and suprabasal ratios in epidermal stem cell in G3Terc-/- mice were (17.36±3.56)% and (2.92±0.72)% respectively. Relative p21 expression level in G3Terc-/- mice was 6.40 fold to WT mice; Number of colonies formed by WT mice epidermal stem cells were (280.20±29.81) per 104 cell, number of colonies formed by G3Terc-/- mice epidermal stem cells were (29.28±5.24) per 104 cell, which present significant difference to each other (P<0.05) . Conclusion Compared to WT mice, epidermal stem cells in G3Terc-/- mice were aging. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]