Bald mice have grown human hair
Biologists turned stem cells into hair and transplanted them to mice
Japanese biologists have grown full-fledged hair follicles from mouse stem cells and successfully transplanted a rodent deprived of hair from birth to the back of the head, according to an article published in the journal Nature Communications (Fully functional hair follicle regeneration through the rearrangement of stem cells and their niches, in the public domain, including drawings. By the way, these are the same Japanese biologists who last summer published an article about almost full–fledged teeth grown in mice - VM).
Over the past two decades, biologists have learned how to turn stem cells into tissues of bones, muscles, skin and the nervous system. Such tissues can become "spare parts" in case of damage to the body or medicine for a number of degenerative diseases. For example, cultures of "stem" neurons can become a panacea for the treatment of Alzheimer's and Parkinson's diseases.
Bulbs and cellsA group of scientists led by Takashi Tsuji from the Scientific University of Tokyo (Japan) used stem cells to create a full–fledged substitute for lost hair - "embryos" of hair follicles capable of integrating into the skin of an adult or mouse.
Tsuji and his colleagues used adult stem cells extracted from healthy hair follicles. Compared with embryonic or "reprogrammed" stem cells, this technique has several advantages – there are no mutations in such cells as a result of "reprogramming errors", they are fully compatible with the genome of the "patient" and do not cause moral and ethical objections among the population.
The authors of the article raised several "naked" mice whose genome was damaged in such a way that all the hair on their body was missing, except for whiskers-vibrissae, and the immune system practically did not work.
As a source of hair follicle stem cells, scientists used mouse embryo skin tissue and adult vibrissa. The researchers extracted from them several stem cells of two types necessary for hair growth.
Hair "beds"Biologists have grown cultures of these cells and collected from them the "embryos" of hair follicles – small balls of a mixture of two types of stem cells.
Then they inserted 29 such balls into empty "seats" on the back of the "naked" rodents' heads and monitored how the stem cells would behave. A month later, full-fledged, albeit colorless hair grew on the site of the "germ bed". According to researchers, approximately 75% of artificial hair follicles have sprouted.
Tsuji and his colleagues corrected this problem by adding stem cell cultures to the blanks of hair follicles, which give color and are responsible for the softness and other properties of the hair. The improved "embryos" turned out to be as successful as the simplest "stem" hair (photo: Tokyo University of Science, Takashi Tsuji).
Convinced of the effectiveness of the new technique, the scientists went further – they grew similar embryos based on human skin stem cells and transplanted them to their wards. Since the immune system of these rodents practically does not work, such "blanks" should not cause rejection in mice.
According to the researchers, the new experiment was a complete success – the hair sprouted 21 days after implantation of the "embryos". Biologists believe that further experiments with human cells will create a safe and convenient tool that allows bald men to restore their hair in a few weeks.
Portal "Eternal youth" http://vechnayamolodost.ru18.04.2012