090 The effect of taurine and its derivatives on the hair follicle cell

T. Magara, C. Hamada, T. Takahashi, A. Ishino and M. Tajima Shiseido Basic Research Center, Yokohama, Japan.

Taurine is the most abundant sulfur amino acid in mammals, and may have important functions in several tissues and organ. It was demonstrated in the adult mice that a high density of taurine was found external root sheaths just below the insertion of the sebaceous glands by radioautography (1). However, no report has been known about the function of taurine on hair follicle. We investigate whether taurine and its derivatives have an effect on the proliferation of the outer root sheath cells (ORS) and dermal papilla cells (DP). The cell line of human ORS and DP was established by infection of a recombinant adenovirus vector containing T antigen. The ORS was cultured in the serum free medium on Type I collagen coated dish with taurine, N-methyltaurine and beta-alanine. Addition of taurine, N-methyltaurine and beta-alanine show the significant increase on the proliferation of ORS, but not on that of DP. These results suggest that distribution of taurine around hair follicle may affect the cell growth. The proliferation by taurine and beta-alanine indicate the mechanism on that glycine receptor is activated and that then the proliferation of epithelial cells may be due to the opening of the ion channel. (1) Watanabe H et al., (1995), Cell Mol Biol (Noisy-le-grand).;41:49-55.