Let new hair grow on the skin

Researchers read new hair growing on bare skin

22/10/2013

Not only men, but also many women develop light hair in the course of their lives to bald. Patients often suffer from markedly reduced self-esteem and mental health problems. Now scientists have the „Columbia University Medical Center“ (CUMC) developed a method of hair transplantation that allows new hair growth on previously bare skin. „The approach could significantly expand the use of hair transplantation in women with hair loss who have insufficient donor hair, as well as in people in early stages of balding“, CUMC reports in a recent press release. The results of the study were published in the online edition of the journal „Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences“ (PNAS).

„Over 90 percent of women with hair loss are not candidates for conventional hair transplantation because of insufficient donor hair“, explained the co-study leader Dr. Angela Christiano. However, the newly developed process could possibly help them in the future. „This method offers the possibility of inducing a large number of hair follicles or rejuvenating existing hair follicles, starting with cells grown from just a few hundred donor hairs“, emphasized the researcher. The novel hair transplants could be used, „to people with a limited number of follicles, including those with female pattern baldness and hair loss due to burns,“ to help, Angela Christiano continues. Because these patients, according to the researcher „not benefit from existing medications that slow down the rate of hair loss, but usually do not stimulate robust growth of new hair“, the new process would be a special breakthrough for them.

New hair growth on bare skin possible?
For a long time, scientists have been working to initiate new hair growth on bare skin. In various experiments, the so-called „Dermal papilla cells“ (hair-forming cells), but once the cells „In conventional two-dimensional cell culture, they develop back into skin cells and lose their ability to produce hair follicles“, Explained study author Colin Jahoda, Professor of Stem Cell Sciences at the University of Durham in England. In their current research, the researchers therefore focused on the question of how a sufficiently large number of cells can be bred for the regeneration of hair while retaining their inductive properties.

Transplanted cells form hair follicles and allow hair to grow
The researchers extracted the dermal papilla cells from the hair follicles of seven men, but instead of multiplying them in conventional cultures, they created a special three-dimensional microenvironment more in line with the natural conditions of cell growth. Subsequently, the cells were transplanted into bald human skin, which in turn had previously been transplanted to the back of mice. The result: five out of seven tests showed hair follicles within a few weeks, which made it possible to grow hair on the bare skin. The gene expression was 22 percent of those in normal hair follicles of the donor agreed. „ This is less than we expected, but it was sufficient to induce the growth of new hair follicles, "explained Dr. Christiano.

Clinical trials on the new procedure of hair transplantation required
However, before the procedure can be tested on humans, according to the researchers still have to do some research. For example, it should be examined how the critical intrinsic properties of the newly induced hair (hair growth cycle, color, angle, positioning etc.) can be influenced, explained Prof. Jahoda. Overall, the team is optimistic that clinical trials may begin in the near future. The current investigation is also an important step on the way to creating a replacement skin that contains hair follicles and could be used, for example, in patients with burns. Jahoda. (Fp)