Restorative Effect of Hair Follicular Dermal Cells on Injured Human Hair Follicles in a Mouse Model

In the 2015 study, researchers examined the potential of cultured human hair follicle dermal cells to repair damaged human hair follicles using a humanized scalp mouse model. They transplanted human scalp hair follicles into mice, amputated the lower halves of these follicles, and then injected the cultured dermal cells around the amputated areas. The study found that these cells contributed to the restoration of the damaged hair follicles. In the short-term analysis of 12 mice, 3 out of 5 with completely amputated follicles showed incorporation of the transplanted cells. In the long-term, 8 out of 10 mice showed successful restoration, with 5 having fully restored hair follicles that contained multipotent stem cell markers and could produce new hair shafts. The study involved 27 mice in total, with 22 receiving hair follicle dermal cell transplants and 5 serving as controls with fibroblast transplants. This research suggests that autologous cell transplantation could be a viable method for hair restoration therapy.