Clusters of perifollicular macrophages in normal murine skin: physiological degeneration of selected hair follicles by programmed organ deletion.

In back skin sections from adolescent C57BL/6 mice, regularly distributed, perifollicular inflammatory cell clusters (PICC) were found located around the distal noncycling portion of about 2% of all hair follicles examined. The PICC and the affected hair follicles were characterized during spontaneously developed or induced hair cycle stages, using antibodies against MHC Class II, F4/80, ER-MP23, NLDC 145, CD4, CD8, gammadeltaTCR, IL-1 receptor, and ICAM-1. PICC consisted predominantly of macrophages (MAC), accompanied by a few CD4+ cells, whereas gammadeltaTCR+ and CD8+ cells were absent. During anagen and catagen, some of the PICC+ hair follicles showed variable degenerative phenomena reminiscent of scarring alopecia: thickened basement membrane, ectopic MHC II expression, MAC infiltration into the follicle epithelium, and signs of keratinocyte apoptosis. Loss of distal outer root sheath keratinocytes was detected in 10% of PICC+ hair follicles (0.2% of all hair follicles). Because PICC were located in the vicinity of the bulge region, MAC-dependent damage to follicle stem cells might eventually lead to follicle degeneration. These perifollicular MAC clusters around selected hair follicles may indicate the existence of a physiological program of MAC-dependent controlled follicle degeneration by which damaged or malfunctioning follicles are removed by programmed organ deletion (POD).