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TOKYO — By the age of 35, two-thirds of American men will experience some degree of appreciable hair loss. By the age of 50, approximately 85 percent of men have significantly thinning hair. Approximately 25 percent of men who suffer with male pattern baldness begin the painful process before they reach the age of 21.
Additionally, [women](<women http:/www.americanhairloss.org/women_hair_loss/>) make up 40 percent of American hair loss sufferers. According to the American Hair Loss Association, hair loss in women can be absolutely devastating for the sufferer's self-image and emotional well being.
Organ replacement regenerative therapy is a new technology that could solve the hair loss riddle. It enables the replacement of organs damaged by disease, injury or aging and is considered to be the next the stage of regenerative therapy.
Researchers in Japan were recently able to bioengineer hair follicles that were capable of developing the correct structures and forms, allowing them to make proper connections with surrounding host tissues. The transplanted follicles are capable of restoring hair cycles.
The study, reported in the April 17 issue of Nature Communications, was authored by Takashi Tsuji, but the actual research was conducted by more than a dozen other Japanese researchers.
According to the study, ”These findings significantly advance the technological development of bioengineered hair follicle regenerative therapy.”
From this thick area of hair we pull, we take a small amount of hair and then, through bioengineering, multiply or increase the hair follicles from this source.
–Takashi Tsuji, lead author
The new therapy was first done on bald mice and later with bioengineered human hair follicle germ using human stem cells. In the study, small pieces (1–2 cm2) of occipital scalp skin were obtained from 39- and 63-year-old male donors. In the research, at the 21-day mark after transplantation, the growth of pigmented hair shafts was observed underneath the epithelium of the host skin.
Simply put, the new therapy worked and may hold the key to permanently reversing baldness in the very near future.
“From this thick area of hair we pull, we take a small amount of hair and then, through bioengineering, multiply or increase the hair follicles from this source," Tsuji said. "Once we've created enough, we will be able to surgically transplant the regenerated hairs."
Tokyo Medical Clinic Hospital director Akio Sato told Reuters the discovery will lead to vastly improved hair transplantation procedures for the bald.
The new study is the first to demonstrate the creation of viable hair follicles within the skin, but the team says it also shows the potential for bioengineering other body parts using adult stem cells. The research demonstrates a real potential for growth.
The study and technology also has far-reaching implications for the re-growth of human tissues for replacement of other body parts and organs. Once the technology is perfected, it could allow for the farming of tissue and organs in medical technology and research.
Tsuji, the team leader at the Tokyo University of Science, said, "If it works in mice, it can work in people." The research showed it did work in people.
The Japanese are at the forefront of this new technology. The study was conducted and coordinated by Japanese researchers affiliated with at least seven different entities, including universities and clinics, and coordinated to utilize the best and brightest in science throughout Japan.
Mel Borup Chandler often writes on technology and breakthroughs in science. He is a graduate of WSU and the Vidal Sassoon Academy in Santa Monica, California. He reports from Southern California. His E-mail is mbccomentator@roadrunner.com.
