Tired of hair loss? New studies have solutions for hair loss or baldness

A team of researchers at the RIKEN Center for Biosystems Dynamics Research in Kobe, Japan, may have just found an answer to hair loss and baldness woes. While many methods have been devised in the past to address hair-related issues, this one is unique, for it’s a recipe for continuous cyclical regeneration of hair follicles from hair follicle stem cells. At RIKEN’s, a team led by Takashi Tsuji had been working on methods to regenerate lost hair from stem cells. As part of their experiment, the researchers took fur and whisker cells from mice and processed them in controlled conditions with other biological “ingredients” in a laboratory.  

In a press release, they said that 220 combinations of ingredients were used and it was discovered that combining a type of collagen with five factors — the NFFSE medium — led to the highest rate of stem cell amplification in the shortest time. The researchers further explained that hair growth among mammals is a continuous cyclical process. The hair grows, falls out, and grows again. While the growth occurs in the anagen phase, hair falls out in the telogen phase. And therefore, they said a hair-regeneration treatment is successful only when it produces hair that recycles. In their experiment, they placed bio-engineered hair follicle stem cells in NFFSE medium and observed the regenerated hair for several weeks.

The study demonstrated that 81 percent of hair follicles generated in the NFFSE medium went through at least three hair cycles and produced normal hair. “In contrast, 79 percent of follicles grown in the other medium produced only one hair cycle,” they said.