July 2026 in “Acta Biomaterialia” This study introduced a bioengineering platform that creates early-stage hair peg-like structures within tissue-engineered skin substitutes by integrating human keratinocytes and dermal papilla cells with laser-micropatterned collagen scaffolds, providing a foundation for future appendage-inclusive skin regeneration efforts.
15 citations
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January 2020 in “ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces” This study reported that a novel chitosan/polyvinyl alcohol nanofiber sponge effectively enhances the hair follicle-inducing ability of dermal papilla multicellular spheroids in a mouse model.
June 1967 in “Journal of Cellular Physiology” This study developed an in vitro 3D organoid model using dermal papilla spheroids and found that it enhances growth factor expression and extracellular matrix production, which could aid drug screening for hair regeneration.
2 citations
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November 2019 in “FEBS open bio” This study found that stimulating dermal papilla cells with specific adipo-osteogenic factors and growth factors helped maintain their viability and restored their hair-forming activity in vitro.
January 2024 in “Biomaterials Research” This study found that human hair follicle dermal papilla cells cultivated as 3D spheroids in hexanoyl glycol chitosan-coated dishes formed hair-like structures, with minoxidil enhancing growth, and successfully integrated into artificial skin models, suggesting advancements for hair loss treatments and skin restoration therapies.
September 2017 in “Journal of Investigative Dermatology” This study found that hyaluronic acid increased the size and cell proliferation of mixed aggregates in a 3D culture model, indicating its role in human hair follicle germ-like structure formation without enhancing dermal papilla cell markers.
September 2019 in “Journal of Investigative Dermatology” This study found that co-culturing dermal papilla cells in a 3D structure with adipose-derived stem cells may enhance the expression of hair inductivity markers compared to 2D cultures.
8 citations
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October 2022 in “Biomedical Materials” This study found that incorporating hair follicle-primed spheroids into skin constructs showed potential for developing hair-bearing skin mimetics with follicle-forming abilities in vitro.
This study found that while 3D spheroid culture preserved sweat gland cell-specific markers better than 2D culture, their growth and structural organization were suboptimal, highlighting the need for improved culture systems.
August 2023 in “Cell Proliferation” This study observed that incorporating human follicle dermal papilla cells into fibrin microgels increased cell viability and the formation of hair follicle structures in in vitro skin cultures compared to traditional dermal papilla spheroids, suggesting a promising approach for hair follicle regeneration therapies.
This study found that encapsulating dermal papilla spheroids in alginate hydrogel with extracellular matrix proteins increased alkaline phosphatase activity, suggesting an enhanced manipulation of dermal papilla activity.
In this study, researchers developed a photocurable polyurethane resin for 3D printing, creating high-resolution elastomeric microwell arrays that effectively promote uniform spheroid formation and growth of A549 cells, which could aid in disease modeling and organoid research.
1 citations
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July 2025 in “Biomaterials Advances” This study investigated how 2D and 3D cell culturing methods influence hair follicle morphogenesis, finding that 3D cultures responded more expectedly to minoxidil while 2D cultures reacted better to DHT treatment, challenging the assumption that 3D cultures are always superior.
April 2026 in “Biomedical and Biotechnology Research Journal (BBRJ)” In this study, researchers observed that using microtube-based forced aggregation, human hair follicle dermal papilla cells formed stable, compact spheroids at higher cell densities, showing enhanced expression of specific markers compared to 2D culture.
January 2024 in “Biomaterials Research” This study introduced a novel 3D co-culture system that effectively mimics in vivo extracellular matrix dynamics, supporting hair follicle biology research and providing a robust platform for evaluating hair loss treatments through enhanced epithelial-mesenchymal interactions.
10 citations
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April 2013 in “Journal of Investigative Dermatology” This study found that ovine dermal papilla cells exhibit robust aggregation in culture, offering a model to investigate the regulation of hair follicle dermal papilla size.
1 citations
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June 2017 in “PLOS ONE” This study found that host cells play a crucial role in the maturation of reconstructed hair follicles, emphasizing their participation in hair follicle reconstruction processes.
May 2026 in “Materials & Design” This study developed a hair-on-a-chip model that supports the maturation of hair-follicle-like tissue under long-term culture conditions, suggesting its promise for studying hair regeneration and testing scalp-targeted therapies.
May 2026 in “Biotechnology and Bioengineering” This review discusses recent breakthroughs in 3D bioprinting for hair regeneration, highlighting developments like biomimetic dermal papilla spheroids and follicle organoids, but notes that clinical application is hindered by challenges in integrating vascular and nerve systems and managing hair-cycle dynamics.
September 2025 in “bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory)” This study found that human dermal papilla cells are surrounded by a basement membrane-like extracellular matrix, which maintains their aggregated structure without strong cell‒cell contacts.
46 citations
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September 2014 in “Tissue engineering. Part A” This study found that a 3D Matrigel culture technique for dermal papilla cell spheroids can enhance hair follicle inductivity and induce hair-like fiber differentiation in vitro, even with high-passage cells.
1 citations
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December 2023 in “Scientific reports” This study investigated the use of 3D cell culture technology to explore hair follicle regeneration, examining the impact of the 3D cellular environment on hair follicle morphogenesis and the effects of microwell depth on spheroid formation.
78 citations
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October 2012 in “Biomaterials” This study found that both human and rat dermal papilla spheroids can induce hair follicle neogenesis, but larger spheroids increase inductivity without significantly affecting hair fiber diameter.
15 citations
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June 2015 in “Human Cell” This study found that forming spheroids using silicone micro-wells improved the viability and neural differentiation potential of human adipose-derived stem cells after thawing.
This study found that hyaluronic acid increased the size of hair follicle germ-like aggregates and the number of proliferative cells but did not maintain specific markers during the process.
62 citations
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February 2016 in “ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces” This study found that 3D microtissue models of dermal papilla cells can enhance the ability to induce hair-follicle neogenesis in vivo, offering potential for controlled cell production in follicle regeneration.
30 citations
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December 2017 in “Advanced Healthcare Materials” This study reports that using nanogel and layer-by-layer self-assembly to encapsulate single dermal papilla cells can form cell spheroids that regenerate hair follicles successfully in a hair follicle regeneration model.
14 citations
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April 2017 in “Scientific Reports” This study demonstrated that using a perfusion culture bioreactor and 3D spheroid culture can enhance corneal endothelial cell expansion and support the construction of tissue-engineered corneal endothelial layers in vitro.
2 citations
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April 2020 in “bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory)” This study reveals that basement membrane composition and structure in mouse hair follicles are specialized for distinct inter-tissue interactions, with laminin α5 being essential for maintaining these interfaces.
239 citations
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December 2013 in “Scientific Reports” In this study, researchers developed a microfluidics-based method for creating uniform, size-controlled stem cell spheroids that enhance osteogenic differentiation when encapsulated in alginate-RGD microgels.