- A team of researchers from Japan may have discovered the cure for baldness.
- The RIKEN Center for Biosystems Dynamics Research used stem cells and a specific culture mechanism to create hair follicles that can recycle hair like natural follicles.
- Any hair regeneration treatment must produce hair that can grow back after falling out. Stem cell therapy generated hair follicles that underwent at least three cycles of normal hair production in laboratory tests.
Many people have tried to cure a medical condition that affects millions of people worldwide, with men being predominantly affected by it. Baldness can be triggered by specific drug therapies, such as cancer treatment, and some survivors of COVID-19 have found that hair loss is an unusual symptom. But baldness occurs in many others without a specific trigger. At 35, two-thirds of American men will experience some degree of hair loss, according to the American Hair Loss Association. By the age of 50, up to 85% of men will have significantly thinner hair.
Baldness has no impact on health, but it can emotionally affect those who are affected by it. There are several therapies for baldness, but there is no cure that can reverse the process. Now, however, a team in Japan may have found a solution to restore hair growth with the help of stem cells.
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The researchers used stem cells to create hair follicles that can grow back after falling off. This is how hair growth should work. Hair loss is natural, but each strand of hair must be replaced with a new one that grows back in its place. Scientists at the RIKEN Center for Biosystems Dynamics Research published an article in Nature Scientific Reports (through Futurism) detailing their progress with stem cells in mammals.
They took hair and cells from the mustache of mice and then grew them in the laboratory along with other ingredients. They used 220 combinations, finding that a type of collagen paired with five factors (NFFSE medium) would lead to the highest amplification rate of stem cells in the shortest period of time. The RIKEN team explained that a successful hair regeneration treatment that can cure baldness must produce recyclable hair. This means that the hair can grow back after falling naturally.
These researchers combined stem cells from the bioengineered hair follicle with the NFFSE medium, as well as the medium without one of the ingredients. They observed regenerated hair for three weeks and found that the NFFSE medium allowed hair follicles to go through at least three cycles of normal hair production. The other medium was not as efficient, with 79% of the follicles producing only one hair cycle.
The researchers also found that a specific marker on the surface of cells grown in the NFFSE medium favored the hair cycle. “We found that almost 80% of the follicles reached three hair cycles when Itgβ5 was also bioengineered in the hair follicle germ,” said author Makoto Takeo in a statement. “In contrast, only 13% reached three cycles when they were not present.”
“Our culture system establishes a method for cyclical hair follicle regeneration from hair follicle stem cells and will help make hair follicle regeneration therapy a reality in the near future,” said Takashi Tsuji, the lead author of the study.
Before this cure for baldness becomes commercially available, it must undergo clinical tests. So far, RIKEN researchers have demonstrated stem cell therapy in preclinical laboratory tests. Tsuji said the institute is looking for outside collaborators to help develop clinical applications for the new hair growth technology.
The full study is available at this link.
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Chris Smith started writing about gadgets as a hobby and, before he knew it, was already sharing his views on technology with readers around the world. Whenever he’s not writing about gadgets, he miserably fails to stay away from them, although he tries desperately. But this is not necessarily a bad thing.