The organ-maintained human sebaceous gland.

In the absence of epidermal growth factor (EGF) and phenol red in the maintenance medium, human sebaceous glands apparently retain in vivo rates of cell division and lipogenesis over 7 days and also retain in situ morphology. This is reversible on the re-addition of 10 ng/ml EGF and 10 mg/ml phenol red. The addition of 600 pM 17 beta-oestradiol results in a significant fall in the rate of lipogenesis over 7 days' maintenance, without affecting the rate of cell division. This effect is apparently due to abnormal differentiation of newly formed sebocytes. Neither 1 nM testosterone nor 1 nM dihydrotestosterone has any effect on rates of cell division or lipogenesis over 7 days. 1 microM 13-cis-retinoic acid causes a significant reduction in the rate of lipogenesis over 7 days.