WebMD Millions of bald and balding men may have a chance at a full head of hair in the nottoodistant future, a new study suggests. Researchers said that their study, published in this weeks international journal Nature, shows for the first time that adults can grow additional hair follicles from the transplanted hair of other adults.
The study confirms what many hair researchers have suspected Hair follicles have a special status among parts of the human body and can be transplanted from one person to another without triggering an immune reaction, said research team member Angela Christiano, Ph.D., a molecular biologist at Columbia University in New York City.
Theres this principle of immune privilege thats thought to be associated with hair follicles, Christiano said. Its been assumed, but this is the first proof.
Although hair transplant surgery has become increasingly sophisticated in recent years, no one has found a way yet to increase a persons allotment of hair follicles, she said. Current methods of surgery merely redistribute the existing follicles, which limits how effective they are for people who have lost hair follicles from injury or disease.
But the husbandwife research team from Durham University in England, Amanda Reynolds and Colin Jahoda, may have opened the way for new hairloss treatments. Trying to grow a new follicle, the researchers took a small plug of hair from Jahodas head. The team then implanted parts of a special area of the follicle just a few cells worth into tiny cuts on Reynolds inner forearm front lace wigs.
The study confirms what many hair researchers have suspected Hair follicles have a special status among parts of the human body and can be transplanted from one person to another without triggering an immune reaction, said research team member Angela Christiano, Ph.D., a molecular biologist at Columbia University in New York City.
Theres this principle of immune privilege thats thought to be associated with hair follicles, Christiano said. Its been assumed, but this is the first proof.
Although hair transplant surgery has become increasingly sophisticated in recent years, no one has found a way yet to increase a persons allotment of hair follicles, she said. Current methods of surgery merely redistribute the existing follicles, which limits how effective they are for people who have lost hair follicles from injury or disease.
But the husbandwife research team from Durham University in England, Amanda Reynolds and Colin Jahoda, may have opened the way for new hairloss treatments. Trying to grow a new follicle, the researchers took a small plug of hair from Jahodas head. The team then implanted parts of a special area of the follicle just a few cells worth into tiny cuts on Reynolds inner forearm front lace wigs.
Three weeks later, she had new hairs where the cells had been implanted thicker and darker than other hairs on her arm. DNA analysis of the new hair follicles revealed that the new hairs matched neither his nor her own natural hairs, but a genetic mix of donor and recipient.
An organ transplant between Jahoda and Reynolds would normally fail, said Christiano, because unlike twins or close relatives the couple carry different genes, which makes them immunologically incompatible. But in this case, even 77 days after the graft, the researchers didnt see any signs that Reynolds body was rejecting the new hair.
To test these results further, the research team did another follicle transplant into Reynolds five months later. This time they used hair from two different men, Jahoda and another. That transplant, too, showed no signs of rejection.
An organ transplant between Jahoda and Reynolds would normally fail, said Christiano, because unlike twins or close relatives the couple carry different genes, which makes them immunologically incompatible. But in this case, even 77 days after the graft, the researchers didnt see any signs that Reynolds body was rejecting the new hair.
To test these results further, the research team did another follicle transplant into Reynolds five months later. This time they used hair from two different men, Jahoda and another. That transplant, too, showed no signs of rejection.
No comments:
Post a Comment