P37 ASCORBIC ACID 2-PHOSPHATE PROMOTES HAIR GROWTH
Kim MK, Kim JC, Sung YK
Department of Immunology, Kyungpook National University School of Medicine, Daegu, Korea

Cultured dermal papilla cells exhibit normal fibroblast-like morphology at early passage. In contrast to the dermal fibroblast, cultured dermal papilla cells can induce hair follicle growth in vivo, although their inductivity is gradually lost during subculture. It is known that ascorbic acid 2-phosphate (Asc 2-P) stimulates growth of dermal fibroblasts by enhanced production of collagen synthesis. However, it is not known whether Asc 2-P stimulates growth of dermal papilla cells and promotes hair follicle growth. In this study, Asc 2-P stimulated growth of dermal papilla cells and promoted hair follicle growth in organ culture model. On the other hand, Asc 2-P did not significantly promoted the growth of outer root sheath keratinocytes. The mRNA level of IGF-1 was increased 3.8-folds with Asc 2-P treatment while that of HGF, VEGF and KGF were not affected in dermal papilla cells. Versican expression in dermal papilla was also increased by Asc 2-P. However, the mRNA level of collagen types I and III was not affected by Asc 2-P in dermal papilla cells. These data, first time to our knowledge, demonstrate that Asc 2-P stimulates growth of dermal papilla cells and promote hair follicle growth in vitro. The growth stimulation of dermal papilla cells and induction of hair follicle growth seems to be, at least in part, mediated by IGF-1 over-expression from dermal papilla cells by Asc 2-P. In addition, these data suggests that signalling pathway that leads to versican expression is activated by Asc 2-P and Asc 2-P may keep dermal papilla cells to maintain hair-inducing activity by regulating versican.