Prolonged Maintenance of Human Hair Follicles In Vitro in a Serum-Free Medium

The study reported the successful prolonged in vitro growth of isolated human hair follicles for at least 9 days using a completely defined serum-free medium. This medium was supplemented with antibiotics, L-glutamine, insulin, and hydrocortisone. The research demonstrated that hair follicles maintained in this medium preserved their in vivo DNA synthesis patterns and retained similar gross morphology and histology to freshly isolated follicles. Additionally, the keratin synthesis patterns remained unchanged during maintenance, as shown by [35S] methionine labeling.