Hair Follicle Associated Pluripotent Stem Cells Stimulate Hair Growth in Transplanted Mice

The study demonstrated that Hair follicle associated pluripotent (HAP) stem cells, taken from the upper parts of whisker follicles in mice, can stimulate hair growth when transplanted into the skin of athymic nu/nu nude mice, which are unable to produce mature hair shafts due to a mutation in the FOXN1 gene. The transplanted HAP stem cells migrated to the resident hair follicles of the recipient mice, promoting hair growth. The transplanted mice showed significant increases in hair-growth area, hair length, and hair-density score compared to non-transplanted control mice. The study suggests that HAP stem cells could potentially be used in cell therapy for hair growth stimulation, but also noted that repeated transplantation may be necessary to maintain hair growth. The number of mice used in the experiment was not mentioned.