Morphological and Protein Synthesis Changes in Skin during Wool Follicle Regeneration after Plucking and Mimosine Administration

Abstract

The regeneration of wool follicles after plucking of the wool fibres is compared with the regeneration which occurs after treatment of sheep with the DNA synthesis inhibitor mimosine. The process has been examined by labelling skin proteins in vitro with [3Hlleucine, separating them electrophoretically and measuring the radioactivity of the various proteins. The results show that keratin biosynthesis is not detectable during the early stages of follicle regeneration, and that the pattern of protein synthesis changes is similar whether regeneration follows plucking or mimosine treatment.