Posted on 10/06/2005 8:49:11 AM PDT by jb6
Researchers have discovered that certain cells inside the hair follicle are true multipotent stem cells, capable of developing into the many different cell types needed for hair growth and follicle replacement. 6 Oct 2005, 09:42 GMT - Using an animal model scientists at the Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne (EPFL) have demonstrated that these holoclones can be used for long-term follicle renewal.
The researchers isolated stem cells from rat whisker follicles, labeled them and grew them in culture for 140 generations. They then implanted progeny cells into the skin of newborn mice whose hair follicles were just being formed. This skin was then grafted onto athymic (nude) mice. Some cells were incorporated into developing follicles, but other follicles were completely made up of labeled cells.
Each progeny cell contributed to the formation of eight different types of cell in the follicle, including those of the outer root sheath, inner root sheath, the hair shaft, the sebaceous gland and the epidermis.
After 125 days, a biopsy was taken from the graft, and labeled stem cells were isolated, subcloned, cultivated and then once again transplanted. The rat whisker stem cells participated again in forming all the cell types needed to form the hair follicle and sebaceous glands, resulting in hair bulbs that underwent repeated normal phases of growth, rest and regeneration.
The fact that the transplanted cells participate in the hair cycle over long periods of time shows that they are true multipotent stem cells and not progeniture cells, leading the researchers to suggest that it could be possible to generate the complete human hair bulb capable of lasting for years. This finding has important implications for regenerative medicine. For example, the method could one day be used to regenerate hair on patients with severe burns.
But, But Stem Cells Bad! Waaaahh!
BUMP
Naw DU troll they aren't bad. The idea of disposable humans is the bad part. Mmmmkay?
I'm sure if this technology comes to pass that regenerating hair on patients with severe burns will make up a fraction of a percent of it's usage. What's the stock ticker? :)
Stem cells are wonderful. A market in human tissue from unwilling donors is the bad part.
Note to self: Sell Couvre stock!
I wonder what Al Gore would look like with rat whiskers growing out of his scalp?
And remember, I'm not just the president of the Follicle Club for Men, I'm also a member!
This treatment has been tried before, and failed . Henry Waxman was a participant in the field trials, and the stem cells implanted in his head resultd in long nasal hairs growing.
DUh
Morons like to do just that, then they sit back and laugh without posting a response.
Details are what gets the troll. No one said stem cells are bad, stem cells harvested from aborted infants or embryos grown for harvesting are bad....and this discovery, like almost every in stem cells, is from adults....so much for another defense for keeping abortion legal.
What??? They aren't already?
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