Mechanotransductive Differentiation of Hair Follicle Stem Cells Derived from Aged Eyelid Skin into Corneal Endothelial-Like Cells

September 2021 in “ Stem Cell Reviews and Reports ”

Christian Olszewski, Jessika Maassen, Rebecca Guenther, Claudia Skazik, Angela Gutermuth

hair follicle stem cells HFSCs pluripotency stem-cell potency eyelid skin

Studysummary This study concluded that hair-derived stem cells from older donors may offer a promising alternative for autologous corneal endothelial replacement, potentially benefitting patients of various age groups. Our plain-language summary of this paper — not a Tressless recommendation.

The study investigated the potential of hair follicle stem cells (HFSCs) derived from aged eyelid skin as a source for corneal endothelial-like cells, which could serve as an alternative to donor corneas in treating corneal endothelial insufficiency. Researchers found that HFSCs from blepharoplasty patients aged 50 to 80 retained pluripotency and could differentiate into various cell lineages, including corneal endothelial-like cells, despite a slight decrease in stem-cell potency. These findings suggested that HFSCs from eyelid biopsies could be a promising autologous cell source for corneal endothelial replacement across different age groups.

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research In Vitro Neural Differentiation of CD34+ Stem Cell Populations in Hair Follicles by Three Different Neural Induction Protocols

18 citations , October 2014 in “In vitro cellular & developmental biology. Animal”

Hair follicle stem cells can become neural cells using different methods, with varying efficiency.

research Lgr5 Marks Cycling, Yet Long-Lived, Hair Follicle Stem Cells

835 citations , October 2008 in “Nature Genetics”

Lgr5 is a marker for active, long-lasting stem cells in mouse hair follicles.

research Neural Potential of a Stem Cell Population in the Hair Follicle

80 citations , September 2007 in “Cell Cycle”

This study found that nestin-expressing cells in the hair follicle bulge exhibit multipotent stem cell-like properties and can generate neural cells both in vitro and in vivo.