Hair-growing stem cells have been identified in mouse skin tissue
The finding may lead to better treatments for burns and baldness. The mature skin of the mouse contains stem cells that can produce skin and hair cells. Although these results were hinted at in the past, the latest work conducted on the subject is the first to prove that these cells are indeed stem cells, with the ability to create new tissues. The hope is that this discovery will lead to treatments for baldness and burns.
Elaine Fox and her colleagues at Rockefeller University in New York isolated the cells from hair follicles in the skin of the mouse, establishing their identification by locating proteins and genes specific to stem cells.
The researchers took individual cells and grew hundreds of thousands of identical copies from each, then transplanted them into a wound on the backs of hairless mice.
The cells grew to form patches of fur, including skin, follicles, hair and oil-producing glands.
"Conjectures are quite dense. They look just like a normal fur cover," says Fox. According to her, this study is the first to show that individual cells isolated from a hair follicle can make identical copies of themselves, and produce different types of tissue cells when they are transplanted - making them true stem cells. The research results are published in the prestigious journal Cell.
Absolute success
"The next big advance in this field is likely to come from using human tissue," says George Kotsarlis of the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, Philadelphia, who isolated similar cells.
If humans are as similar to mice as we think, scientists could use a similar method to extract stem cells from human portal follicles, Fox says. It will be possible to grow the cells and multiply them and then re-implant them into a bald scalp or on a deep wound. We hope that after the transplant the cells will produce new skin tissue or hair depending on the transplant site.
This method will be much more effective than the current methods for treating baldness. Today, hair transplantation involves the transfer of tufts of hair from areas where there is still hair on the balding head to completely bald areas. This often leads to a washed out end result - the scalp transplanted with individual hair tufts looks patchy, with areas of hair and bald areas side by side. Medicines, such as Propecia, which affect the male hormone level, can slow down the process of baldness and hair loss among some of the balding male population. However, the drug must be taken regularly for an indefinite period of time.
Similar transplant strategies can also be used to treat burn victims. Today, patients receive a graft of the outer layer of the skin, which does not include hair follicles or sweat glands. Transplantation of stem cells - for skin production - may allow the production of all types of cells in the skin, including those that cannot be transferred with the standard transplant today, says Fox.
