Concepts and Challenges in Hair Follicle Cloning

The 2014 research article "Concepts and Challenges in Hair Follicle Cloning" discussed the potential of hair follicle cloning for hair growth. The study highlighted the role of mesenchymal-epithelial interactions in hair follicle development and growth, and the potential of dermal papilla cells to induce new hair growth. However, it was noted that human dermal papilla cells behaved differently from rodent cells, with the former not aggregating and potentially acting as fibroblasts in a wound environment after injection or grafting. The researchers proposed a new approach for follicle regeneration, involving the growth of human dermal papilla cells in three-dimensional dermal spheroids, which maintained their specificity after transplantation and were capable of inducing growth of new hair follicles. However, the hairs produced were small and directionally non-uniform, and it was unclear how long they would grow for and whether the follicles would cycle. The study concluded that while hair follicle cloning using human hair follicle cells was possible, many challenges remained before it could replace conventional hair transplantation procedures.