Reorganization of hair follicles in human skin organ culture induced by cultured human follicle-derived cells

In 2005, Krugluger et al. conducted a study using skin specimens from five male patients to investigate the ability of human hair follicle-derived cells to induce hair follicle reorganization in a human skin organ culture system. The cells, isolated from patients undergoing hair restoration surgery, were expanded in vitro and injected into the skin specimens. After 4 weeks, velus-like hair growth was observed, and after 8 weeks, multiple miniaturized hair follicles with sebaceous glands were present, suggesting that the reorganized hair follicles were formed de novo from the injected cells. The study demonstrated that human skin organ culture could support hair follicle generation and that the system could be used to study human hair follicle development and differentiation, potentially aiding in cell therapy approaches for hair loss.