Spheroid Cell Cultures as a Promising Study Model for Hair Follicle Regeneration

Five years ago, a study was conducted to test different culture conditions for Dermal Papilla Cells (DPC) and Hair Follicle Stem Cells (HFSC) with the aim of regenerating hair follicles in skin substitutes. The study found that 3D-culture strategies were necessary as DPC's inductive ability was lost when cultured in a monolayer. The results showed that Alkaline phosphatase activity (APa), which correlates with hair inductive potential of DPC, was 25 times higher in spheroids than in monolayer cultured cells. Additionally, VEGF and Angiogenin, which promote skin angiogenesis and hair cycle, showed an 8-fold higher expression in DPC spheroids. After 48 hours of culture time, an 8-fold increase of Wnt agonists and a 4-fold decrease of Dkk1 expression was observed. The study concluded that the culture conditions were crucial in obtaining DPC-spheroids with improved inductivity and heterotypic spheroids with histological features reminiscent of embryonic hair-buds.