TLDR Engineered skin substitutes can grow hair but have limitations like missing sebaceous glands and hair not breaking through the skin naturally.
In the 2013 study, researchers explored hair follicle development in engineered skin substitutes (ESS) by grafting human keratinocytes and murine dermal papilla cells onto mice. They found that chimeric skin substitutes formed pigmented hairs without sebaceous glands, while murine-only substitutes formed external hairs with glands, and human-only substitutes did not form follicles or glands at all. The chimeric hair did not naturally erupt through the skin, but hair shafts were visible upon removal of the skin's upper layer. Gene expression analysis showed upregulation of hair-related genes and downregulation of a sebaceous gland marker, indicating that sebaceous glands are not essential for hair development in ESS. The study concluded that while ESS can support hair regeneration, there are limitations, such as the absence of sebaceous glands and the hair's inability to erupt naturally. This research contributes to the understanding of hair follicle development in tissue-engineered skin and the potential for hair restoration, particularly for burn patients.
107 citations,
August 2012 in “Seminars in Cell & Developmental Biology” The document concludes that understanding the sebaceous gland's development and function is key to addressing related skin diseases and aging effects.
235 citations,
January 2011 in “Journal of Clinical Investigation” Men with baldness due to androgenetic alopecia still have hair stem cells, but lack specific cells needed for hair growth.
20 citations,
September 2010 in “The journal of investigative dermatology/Journal of investigative dermatology” MMP-9 is essential for proper hair canal formation.
550 citations,
December 2005 in “The Journal of clinical investigation/The journal of clinical investigation” Researchers successfully isolated and identified key markers of stem cell-enriched human hair follicle bulge cells.
205 citations,
April 2005 in “Journal of Investigative Dermatology” Scientists have found a way to create hair follicles from skin cells of newborn mice, which can grow and cycle naturally when injected into adult mouse skin.
179 citations,
June 2000 in “The American journal of pathology” The absence of functional sebaceous glands causes hair follicle destruction and scarring alopecia.
April 2021 in “Journal of Investigative Dermatology” Leontopodium alpinum extract may help reduce hair shedding by keeping hair in the growth phase longer.
30 citations,
April 2018 in “Experimental Dermatology” The article concludes that developing in vitro models for human hair structures is important for research and reducing animal testing, but there are challenges like obtaining suitable samples and the models' limitations.
April 2017 in “The journal of investigative dermatology/Journal of investigative dermatology” Researchers developed a method to grow human hair follicles using 3D-printed skin models and modified cells.
15 citations,
April 2014 in “Experimental Dermatology” Scientists developed a system to study human hair growth using skin cells, which could help understand hair development and improve skin substitutes for medical use.
41 citations,
June 2013 in “PLOS ONE” Engineered skin substitutes can grow hair but have limitations like missing sebaceous glands and hair not breaking through the skin naturally.
211 citations,
April 2013 in “Development” More dermal papilla cells in hair follicles lead to larger, healthier hair, while fewer cells cause hair thinning and loss.
15 citations,
September 2008 in “Archives of Dermatological Research” Roxithromycin, an antibiotic, can increase hair growth and might be used as a treatment for hair loss.
