The pattern and timing of cutaneous hair follicle innervation in the rat pup and human fetus

Abstract

The postnatal development of hair follicle innervation was studied in the rat hindlimb using a silver stain which detects large and medium calibre cutaneous nerve fibres. The pattern and timing of innervation in relation to postnatal changes in follicle growth were studied providing new data on nerve-target interactions in the developing peripheral nervous system. Sensory axons begin to leave the dermal plexus and grow towards follicles at P (postnatal day) 3 but do not start to innervate them until P7 or achieve an adult appearance until P19. The first terminals are circumferential, followed some days later by the appearance of palisade endings. The number of axons innervating a hair follicle increases steadily with age until P19 and there is no evidence of exuberant innervation of follicles during development. Hair follicle density in the rat is maintained during development due to waves of small, vellus follicle growth later in postnatal life as the skin grows. The percentage of follicles innervated however, decreases from the second postnatal week onwards presumably because late developing vellus hairs do not become innervated. Comparative analysis in human fetal abdominal skin using the same silver stain reveals a similar sequence and pattern of innervation to the rat over the period of 22 to 35 weeks EGA (estimated gestational age). Human skin does not, however, undergo the late waves of follicle growth seen in the rat. Follicular density decreases and the percentage of innervated follicles increases in the third trimester of fetal life.