Isolation and characterization of actin from human hair follicles

of the dry weight of hair, and which is insoluble in aqueous salt solutions. The water-soluble components of the hair have been generally neglected. In the^ hair follicle, -1% of the protein is water-soluble [3]. A new, simple method for hair protein fractionation was developed [3]. Combination of this procedure with scintillation autoradiography enabled detection of newly synthesized polypeptides in human hair follicles. Here, we show that one of the major components ofboth the water-soluble and -insoluble fraction from hair follicles is actin. We demonstrate that actin is newly synthesized when hair follicles are incubated under appropriate conditions.