Displaying items by tag: balding

In mouse study, scientists say they've used stem cells to grow large numbers of active follicles

TUESDAY, Jan. 28, 2014 (HealthDay News) -- Scientists might be able to offer "hair-challenged" males a new glimmer of hope when it comes to reversing baldness. Researchers from the University of Pennsylvania say they've gotten closer to being able to use stem cells to treat thinning hair -- at least in mice. The researchers said that although using stem cells to regenerate missing or dying hair follicles is considered a potential way to reverse hair loss, it hasn't been possible to create adequate numbers of hair-follicle-generating stem cells -- specifically cells of the epithelium, the name for tissues covering the surface of the body.

But new findings indicate that this may now be achievable.

"This is the first time anyone has made scalable amounts of epithelial stem cells that are capable of generating the epithelial component of hair follicles," Dr. Xiaowei Xu, an associate professor of dermatology at Penn's Perelman School of Medicine, said in a university news release.

Those cells have many potential applications that extend to wound healing, cosmetics and hair regeneration, Xu said.

In the new study, Xu's team converted induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) -- reprogrammed adult stem cells with many of the characteristics of embryonic stem cells -- into epithelial stem cells. This is the first time this has been done in either mice or people, the researchers said.

The epithelial stem cells were mixed with certain other cells and implanted into mice. They produced the outermost layers of skin cells and follicles that are similar to human hair follicles, according to the study, which was published Jan. 28 in the journal Nature Communications. This suggests that these cells might eventually help regenerate hair in people, the researchers said.

Xu said this achievement with iPSC-derived epithelial stem cells does not mean that a treatment for baldness is around the corner. A hair follicle contains both epithelial cells and a second type of adult stem cell called dermal papillae.

"When a person loses hair, they lose both types of cells," Xu said. "We have solved one major problem -- the epithelial component of the hair follicle. We need to figure out a way to also make new dermal papillae cells, and no one has figured that part out yet."

Experts also note that studies conducted in animals often fail when tested in humans.

The magic of television is so powerful, it can produce hair where there is none! "Two and a Half Men" star Jon Cryer revealed Monday night that he is nearly bald.

The "spectacular mane of unruly wonderfulness" that he sported back in the '80s in movies like "Pretty in Pink" is gone and his hair on the hit comedy is actually an "elaborate illusion." "This is the work of several talented professionals making the most of, like, four hairs," he told Conan O'Brien on the host's late-night show.

"It's amazing, actually, what they can do. I'm not wearing a piece or anything like that, but it's a long, involved process that starts with stuff like shoe polish." Yes, the Emmy-winning actor's hair is painted on. "They get a roller type thing and just whoosh along the top," Cryer explained. "You have to decide if you're going to go full [John] Travolta and get the full front in. And then they literally sprinkle powder in from a salt shaker."

A flabbergasted O'Brien asked what happens to the fake hair when it rains. "You're out of luck," Cryer laughed. "It flattens out and you can get the nice little rivulets going down. But thankfully, your eyebrows will channel down the side.

" RIP, Ducky's coif!

SOURCE" Yahoo TV by Kelly Woo