Clock genes, hair growth and aging.

Mikhail Geyfman, Bogi Andersen

Departments of Medicine and Biological Chemistry, University of California-Irvine, Irvine CA 92697, USA.

Aging 2010 Mar

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Hair follicles undergo continuous cycles of growth, involution and rest. This process, referred to as the hair growth cycle, has a periodicity of weeks to months. At the same time, skin and hair follicles harbor a functional circadian clock that regulates gene expression with a periodicity of approximately twenty four hours. In our recent study we found that circadian clock genes play a role in regulation of the hair growth cycle during synchronized hair follicle cycling, uncovering an unexpected connection between these two timing systems within skin. This work, therefore, indicates a role for circadian clock genes in a cyclical process of much longer periodicity than twenty four hours. (c) Geyfman and Andersen