Industrial-Scale Processing of Activated Platelet-Rich Plasma from Specific Pathogen-Free Pigs and Its Effect on Promoting Human Hair Follicle Dermal Papilla Cell Cultivation
December 2016
in “
Journal of The Taiwan Institute of Chemical Engineers
”
TLDR Pig blood plasma can be used to promote human hair growth and is a good alternative to the commonly used serum additive.
In 2017, a study was conducted to optimize the production of porcine platelet-rich plasma (PRP) and assess its effects on human follicle dermal papilla cells (HFDPCs), which are crucial for the hair growth cycle. The researchers developed a large-scale production process for porcine PRP, which was activated using a combination of collagen, thrombin, and calcium chloride. The study found that porcine PRP had higher growth factor levels than fetal bovine serum (FBS), a commonly used serum additive, and was stable during freeze-drying and surfactant treatments. HFDPCs treated with freshly prepared or freeze-dried PRP showed no significant difference in proliferation compared to FBS. The study concluded that porcine PRP is commercially viable as an FBS replacement and hair growth promoter.