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Regrowth of grafted human scalp hair after removal of the bulb.
by Kim JC, Choi YCDermatologic surgery : official publication for American Society for Dermatologic Surgery [et al.].
Article Abstract:
BACKGROUND. The bulbar region of the hair follicle contains the dermal papilla, hair germinative epithelial component, and active melanocytes. Thus, it has been assumed that the bulbar region plays a central role in hair growth, differentiation, and pigmentation. OBJECTIVE. To assess the regenerative capacity of human hair. METHODS. Individual anagen hair follicles were isolated from the occipital scalp and grafted onto the leg after removal of the bulb. RESULTS. The grafts of follicles from which the bulb and complete papilla have been excised regenerated new papillae and grew new pigmented hairs. CONCLUSION. The middle portion of the outer root sheath and dermal sheath may also contain epithelial, mesenchymal, and melanocyte reservoirs.
stem cells
By: Anonymous - Wed 1/10/2007 AM1: Levy V, Lindon C, Harfe BD, Morgan BA. Distinct stem cell populations regenerate the follicle and interfollicular epidermis. Dev Cell. 2005 Dec;9(6):855-61. PMID: 16326396 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]
2: Ghazizadeh S, Taichman LB. Multiple classes of stem cells in cutaneous epithelium: a lineage analysis of adult mouse skin.EMBO J. 2001 Mar 15;20(6):1215-22. PMID: 11250888 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]
'Auto-cloned' beard hair viable alternative donor source for transplantation
By: Jeffrey Ellis - Wed 1/03/2007 PM"The beard region may serve as a useful harvesting site for hair transplantation in men who already have a severely depleted scalp donor supply, Gary S. Hitzig, M.D., ........
....The beard hairs are extracted using a tweezing protocol to remove the shaft and bulb while leaving the follicle intact. All of the men were followed for at least one year and were noted to have hair regrowth at both the sites of hair harvesting and transplantation ....
...With refinements in technique introduced over time, approximately 80 percent to 85 percent of the transplanted hairs grew in the scalp....
...The concept of auto-cloning beard hair derives from the research of Korean dermatologist J.C. Kim, M.D., who reported each human hair contains two sources of genetic programming - one in the follicle and the other in the hair bulb, combined with the results of early cloning studies performed in rats showing success was much greater using whisker hair relative to body hair...."
There where photos presented in the paper, that where difficult to interpret: http://www.dermatologytimes.com/dermatologyti...
I would be most interested if Dr. Hitzig has follow up on this, or if anyone else has tried this. The idea of "plucking" hair from the scalp, and planting it somewhere else should be easy to prove (or disprove) - though conceptually, since the bulb has the stem cells of the hair, I have trouble understanding how could possibly succeed.