Fig. 3. Abnormal hair follicle differentiation in adult 3-integrin-deficient skin. Frozen sections of WT (A,C,E,G,I,K) and 3-integrin deficient (B,D,F,H,J,L) adult skin grafts were used in immunofluorescence analysis with antibodies against keratin 14 (A-D), keratin 1 (E and F), loricrin (G and H), keratin 6 (I and J) and Hb2 (K and L). In both WT and 3-integrin deficient skin expression patterns of keratins 14, 1 and 6 and loricrin were normal. However, hair-specific keratin Hb2 was frequently absent in 3-integrin-deficient hair follicles. b, basal epidermal layer; sb, suprabasal layers. 10 skin grafts for each genotype were analysed and the experiment was repeated three times. Over 400 follicles per genotype were analysed. Arrows, normal hair follicles; arrowheads, hair follicle clusters. The dashed line indicates skin surface. Bars represent 50 µm in A-H, 100 µm in I-L.

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