Establishment of 3D Spheroid Human Dermal Papilla Cells as an Effective Model for Hair Growth Screening Compounds Compared with the 2D System: An Example of Minoxidil and 3,4,5-Tri-O-caffeoylquinic acid (TCQA)

IntroductionDermal papilla cells (DPc) is an important element in studying the hair follicle (HF) niche. The human hair follicle dermal papilla cells (HFDPC) are widely used as an in vitro model to study hair growth related research. These cells are usually grown in 2D culture, nevertheless, this system did not show efficient therapeutic effect on HF regeneration and growth, and key differences were observed between cell activity in vitro and in vivo. ObjectiveRecent studies have showed that HFDPC grown in 3D hanging spheroids is more morphologically akin to intact DPc microenvironment. This current study showed that the 3D model is applicable to the commercial cell line with new insights on its variability by comparing to previous studies of gene signature restored by 3D culture.Methods and Results Our data demonstrated that HFDPCS grown in 3D in vitro model can influence not only hair growth-related pathways but also immune system -related pathways compared to 2D cell monolayer. Furthermore, we compared the expression of signalling molecules and metabolism-associated proteins of HFDPC in minoxidil (FDA approved drug for hair loss treatment) and 3,4,5-tri-O-caffeoylquinic acid (TCQA) (recently found to induce hair growth in vitro and in vivo) treated 3D and 2D cell cultures using microarray analysis. Conclusion Further validation of the results confirms the suitability of this cell line for 3D model while providing new insights such as to the mechanisms behind the hair growth effects of 3D spheroid treated with hair growth promoting agents.