Enhancement of In Vitro Hair Shaft Elongation in Follicles Stored in Buffers That Prevent Follicle Cell Apoptosis
January 2004
in “
Dermatologic Surgery
”
hair follicle micrografts HEPES-buffered Dulbecco's modified Eagle's medium DMEM apoptotic cell death inhibitors aminoguanidine 14,15-epoxy-eicosatrienoic acid 14,15-EET hair shaft elongation phosphate-buffered salt solution PBS serum-induced apoptotic cell death transplantation physiological metabolic pathways pH changes free radical generation hair restoration surgery hair micrografts HEPES-buffered DMEM DMEM ACD inhibitors AMG 14,15-EET HSE PBS serum-induced ACD transplantation metabolic pathways pH changes free radicals hair surgery
TLDR Storing hair follicles in a special buffer with certain inhibitors can increase hair growth and improve transplant results.
In a 2004 study, researchers found that hair follicle micrografts stored in HEPES-buffered Dulbecco's modified Eagle's medium (DMEM) with apoptotic cell death (ACD) inhibitors like aminoguanidine (AMG) and 14,15-epoxy-eicosatrienoic acid (14,15-EET) showed significantly increased in vitro hair shaft elongation (HSE) compared to those stored in phosphate-buffered salt solution (PBS). The study indicated that DMEM storage with ACD inhibitors could prevent serum-induced ACD after transplantation, potentially improving the viability and clinical outcomes of hair micrografts. The findings suggest that maintaining physiological metabolic pathways during storage can enhance cell viability, and that pH changes and free radical generation are primary causes of ACD in stored micrografts. The study's in vitro results imply that these storage buffers could be beneficial in hair restoration surgery, although the number of people involved in the study was not mentioned as it was an in vitro experiment.
