Morphology of hair in normal and mutant laboratory mice.

Inbred laboratory mice are mammals and therefore are haired. Mice develop many of the same diseases as humans and have become the premier in vivo model for studying biology, pathology, genetics, and molecular mechanisms. Mice are useful tools to study hair biology. Examples of characterized mutant mice with abnormal pilosebaceous unit phenotypes are presented to illustrate the value of these animals as models to help understand human diseases of the skin and hair.