Isolation and characterization of cutaneous epithelial stem cells.

During homeostasis, adult mammalian skin turnover is maintained by a number of multipotent and -unipotent epithelial progenitors located either in the epidermis, hair follicle, or sebaceous gland. Recent work has illustrated that these various progenitor populations reside in regionalized niches and are phenotypically distinct from one another. This degree of heterogeneity within the progenitor cell landscape in the cutaneous epithelium complicates our ability to target, purify, and manipulate cutaneous epithelial stem cell subpopulations in adult skin. The techniques outlined in this chapter describe basic procedures for the isolation and purification of murine epithelial progenitors and assessing their capacity for ex vivo propagation.