Human Keratinocytes have two interconvertible modes of proliferation

Single stem cells, including those in human epidermis, have a remarkable ability to reconstitute tissues in vitro, but the cellular mechanisms that enable this are ill defined. We used live imaging to track the outcome of thousands of divisions in clonal cultures of primary human epidermal keratinocytes. Two modes of proliferation were seen. In ‘balanced’ mode, similar proportions of proliferating and differentiating cells were generated, achieving the ‘population asymmetry’ that sustains epidermal homeostasis in vivo. In ‘expanding’ mode, an excess of cycling cells was produced, generating large expanding colonies. Cells in expanding mode switched their behaviour to balanced mode once local confluence was attained. However when a confluent area is wounded in a scratch assay, cells near the scratch switch back to expanding mode until the defect is closed. We conclude that the ability of a single epidermal stem cell to reconstitute an epithelium is explained by two interconvertible modes of proliferation regulated by confluence.