Embryonic Stem Cells Hands Victory to Bald Mice

Embryonic stem cells were recently used to rejuvenate mouse fur. Victory for bald mice? Yes! Bald fogies(?) - never:(

A university lecturer has succeeded in regenerating hair on mice using embryonic stem cells, an achievement that could pave the way for the development of treatments for conditions including hair loss, it has been learned.

Details of the breakthrough, by Mariko Yamaki of Matsumoto Dental University, will be published in the May edition of The Japanese Society for Regenerative Medicine magazine. The work involved taking skin cells and combining them with mesenchymal stem cells--multipotent stem cells that develop into various organs of the body--to regenerate hair. Yamaki said it would be difficult to regenerate hair using only embryonic stem cells.

Yamaki extracted mesenchymal stem cells taken from the teeth of mice embryos and mixed them with mice embryonic stem cells, which form the basis of skin cells. The clumps resulting from the mix were then nurtured.

It was later found that about 40 percent of the 48 clumps had one or two hairs growing from them. When protein, which quickens growth, is added, the hair growth rate increased to about 60 percent, Yamaki said.

Hair growth was observed on all 12 mice that had the clumps implanted on their back muscles.

- Brewskie