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Hair Cloning,
Hope for
Bald Baby Boomers
December 4, 2005 |
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Hair
Cloning: Hope for Bald Baby Boomers
An English based company called Intercytex has claimed some success
in its research on hair cloning with its first testing in humans.
This technique is similar to the one initially proposed by Dr. Colin
Jahoda and published in 1999.
Click here
for the PDF Article.
The idea is that certain cells (called fibroblasts) found at the
bottom of hair follicles can be separated from the follicles after
they have been removed from the scalp, and then be used to form new
follicles.
The way this works is as follows: A few hair follicles at the
permanent area from the back of the scalp (the area that does not
bald) are removed. In a lab, the germinative cells at the base of
the follicle are dissected off and placed in a Petri-dish. They are
then incubated in a special medium and allowed to multiply thousands
of times.
These cultured cells are then injected into the balding area of the
scalp where they induce complete hair follicles to form. In contrast
to traditional hair transplants, where the doctor is limited by the
patients finite donor supply and hair is literally just moved around
(from the back to the front), in hair cloning, there will be an
actual increase in the total number of hairs on a person’s head.
Initial testing involved 7 male volunteers that were suffering from
androgenetic alopecia (common baldness). After the process, 5 of
them showed an increased amount of hair. Fortunately, there were no
complications, such as skin inflammation or tissue rejection.
However, the test area was small and volunteers only grew a little
hair.
Towards the middle of next year, additional patients will be tested
using a greater number of cloned cells, so that a larger area of the
scalp could be covered. The researchers speculate that this new
cloning technology may be on the market in as soon as 5 years.
The researchers speculate that in the distant future, traditional
hair transplants may not be needed at all. Instead, as patients
start to thin, they could come to the clinic on a regular basis for
injections of their own cells to stimulate the growth of new
follicles and stop the impending balding – a sort of hair
maintenance.
Summarized by Bernstein Medical from “Hope grows for bald baby
boomers,” Malcolm Ritter, Associated Press. Tuesday, November 15,
2005.
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