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| Date |
July 20, 2001 |
| Article |
# 155 |
| Title |
French Scientist Confirmed
The Significance of Stem Cells In Baldness Treatment |
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At a time when funding for stem cells research sparks severe debate at the
White House, French scientists reported they have successfully grown skin
tissues with hair follicles using stem cells.
The research was conducted by Dr. Yann Barrandon, a cell specialist at the
National Institute for Science and Medical Research and Paris's Ecole
Normale Supérieure.
Embryonic stem cells have received a lot of attention lately because of
its ability to differentiate into any of the 230 cell types that make up a
human body, from the kidney, heart and liver to the skin, neuronal and
pancreatic. Research on stem cells holds promise for a variety of
incurable diseases.
According to Dr. Barrandon, his team has spent five years researching stem
cells in the hair roots of adult mice. Their focus is to study how the
stem cells were able to differentiate into an entire spectrum of cells
essential for the outer layer of skin, including sebaceous glands and hair
follicles that are inherent to skin tissue.
Dr. Barrandon said that his research on mice was applicable to human
beings as well because in both mice and humans, each follicle has about
1,500 stem cells that could be programmed to develop into glands, hair or
skin, called keratinocytes.
While Dr. Barrandon's research focus is on reproducing skin tissue for
burn victims, he commented that one of his next goals is learn how to
program stem cells to promote hair growth for bald people or conversely to
destroy selected cells in order to discourage hair growth.
Dr. Barrandon's research bear striking resemblance to Dr.Vacanti's
experiement with Skin Progenitor Cells for Tissue Engineering. For details
on Dr. Vacanti's research, please read ...Progenitor
Skin Cells For Tissue Engineering
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Clinically
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