For the purpose of investigating the relation between hair root morphology and STR (Short tandem repeat) typing, the root morphology of head hairs collected by sweeping, combing and pulling from twenty Japanese males was classiˆed as follows. Hair roots swept or combed were classiˆed into four types; A: with no root sheath, B: with little root sheath at the proximal end, C: with medial root sheath at the proximal end or little root sheath around the telogen club, and D: with much root sheath

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... und the telogen club. Hair roots pulled were classiˆed into three types; E: with no root sheath, F: with little root sheath, and G: with much translucent root sheath tissue around the anagen growth bulb. Histomorphological examination of hair roots showed that root sheaths were not observed around telogen clubs of type A, and root sheaths were abundantly observed around anagen growth bulbs of types F and G. In roots of type E, root sheaths were scarcely observed but nuclei were observed in the hair cortex of the anagen growth bulb. In roots of telogen or catagen phases such as types B and C, distinct root sheaths were not observed but translucent process-like structures with blue-stained nuclei were observed at the bottom part of the telogen club. When roots that adhered materials observed around the root of type D were opaque, nuclei were almost never observed. From the hair roots of eleven individuals arbitrarily selected from twenty Japanese males, STR typing was examined using the AmpFlSTR proˆler kit. As a result, no STR loci were detected from all eleven individuals in roots of type A, but all STR loci were detected from them in roots of types E, F and G. In roots of types