TLDR Scientists created early-stage hair follicles from human skin cells, which could help treat baldness and study hair growth.
The document from 2020 details a protocol for creating hair follicle germ-like organoids in vitro from human adult skin cells, a promising development for alopecia treatment and hair biology research. The method involves isolating dermal papilla cells and epidermal keratinocytes from skin biopsies, which are then cultured in a 1:1 ratio and organized into organoids using a hanging drop culture system. These organoids begin to show signs of hair follicle formation after 3 days, indicated by the expression of early development markers. The addition of hyaluronic acid is noted to enhance organoid development. This technique enables the generation of hair follicle germs from individual donors, which could be used for personalized medicine, drug development, and as a model to study hair follicle biology. The research was funded by the Russian Science Foundation under Project no. 16-14-00204.
184 citations,
December 2018 in “Nature Communications” Researchers created human hair follicles using a new method that could help treat hair loss.
42 citations,
January 2017 in “Stem cells international” Adding hyaluronic acid helps create larger artificial hair follicles in the lab.
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.
32 citations,
July 2012 in “Stem Cells Translational Medicine” Vitamin D3 can help improve hair growth by enhancing the function of specific skin cells and could be useful in hair regeneration treatments.
85 citations,
April 2012 in “PLOS ONE” Valproic Acid helps regrow hair in mice and activates a hair growth marker in human cells.
26 citations,
February 2012 in “Journal of Investigative Dermatology” Human hair follicle cells can be successfully transformed into different types of cells, but not more efficiently than other adult cells.
28 citations,
March 2010 in “Histochemistry and cell biology” Skin cells can help create early hair-like structures in lab cultures.
44 citations,
October 2009 in “Biomaterials” Skin cell clumping for hair growth is improved by a protein called fibronectin, which helps cells stick and move better.
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.
134 citations,
September 2008 in “Lasers in surgery and medicine” Low fluence photoepilation temporarily removes hair by targeting the hair follicle's pigmented area without severe damage.
56 citations,
July 2005 in “Experimental Dermatology” Injected human hair follicle cells can create new, small hair follicles in skin cultures.
9 citations,
November 2000 in “Proceedings of SPIE, the International Society for Optical Engineering/Proceedings of SPIE” Dyeing hair can help target and destroy hair follicles selectively.
