Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2013 Jun;133(6):1620-8.
doi: 10.1038/jid.2012.464. Epub 2013 Jan 3.

Epidermal nerve fibers modulate keratinocyte growth via neuropeptide signaling in an innervated skin model

Dennis Roggenkamp  1 , Sarah Köpnick, Franz Stäb, Horst Wenck, Martin Schmelz, Gitta Neufang
Affiliations
Free article

Epidermal nerve fibers modulate keratinocyte growth via neuropeptide signaling in an innervated skin model

Dennis Roggenkamp et al. J Invest Dermatol. 2013 Jun.
Free article

Abstract

Atopic eczema is a chronic inflammatory skin disease characterized by cutaneous nerve fiber sprouting and epidermal hyperplasia, pointing to an involvement of the peripheral nervous system in cutaneous homeostasis. However, the interaction of sensory neurons and skin cells is poorly understood. Using an innervated skin model, we investigated the influence of sensory neurons on epidermal morphogenesis. Neurons induced the proliferation of keratinocytes, resulting in an increase in the epidermal thickness. Inhibition of calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP), but not substance P (SP) signaling, reversed this effect. Human CGRP enhanced keratinocyte proliferation and epidermal thickness in skin models, demonstrating a key role of CGRP in modulating epidermal morphogenesis, whereas SP had only a moderate effect. Innervated skin models composed of atopic skin cells showed increased neurite outgrowth, accompanied by elevated CGRP release. As atopic keratinocytes were sensitized to CGRP owing to higher expression levels of the CGRP receptor components, receptor activity-modifying protein 1 (RAMP1) and receptor component protein (RCP), atopic innervated skin models displayed a thicker epidermis than did healthy controls. We conclude that neural CGRP controls local keratinocyte growth. Our results show that the crosstalk of the cutaneous peripheral nervous system and skin cells significantly influences epidermal morphogenesis and homeostasis in healthy and atopic skin.

PubMed Disclaimer

Comment in

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

MeSH terms

LinkOut - more resources