Hair Follicles Guide Nerve Migration In Vitro and In Vivo in Tissue-Engineered Skin

The study demonstrated that incorporating hair follicles into tissue-engineered skin significantly enhanced nerve migration and reinnervation, both in vitro and in vivo. Hair follicles served as sensory receptors, guiding nerve fibers to them, which improved the recovery of the sense of touch. In experiments with mice, tissue-engineered skin with hair bud-like structures (iTES-HBLS) showed a 180-fold increase in nerve fibers compared to controls without hair buds. This suggests that hair follicles can effectively attract and guide nerves, potentially improving sensory recovery in skin grafts.