Posted on: March 15, 2004
Dr. George Cotsarelis and his colleagues used a "genetic tricks" to mark the bulge stem cells (bulge is part of the hair follicle where stem cells are located) by getting them to produce a green fluorescent protein (GFP) that the surrounding cells did not have. Standard cell sorting machines were then able to separate out the glowing cells from the others.
Dr. Cotsarelis' team showed that stem cells they have isolated posses many properties normally exhibited by stem cells from other tissues, such as bone marrow.
Furthermore, Dr. Cotsarelis and his colleagues then transplanted some of the cells onto new mice and showed that they produced hair and all its associated structures: follicles, epidermis and sebaceous glands.
This experiment sounds very exciting as it opens the possibility for human hairs to be cloned in the same way.
However, it is important to mention, that scientists had to combine their stem cells with the dermal cells from the newborn mice. It can not be excluded, that newborn mouse dermal cells facilitated hair cloning in the way adult mouse dermal cells would not be able to.
After purifying a sufficient amount of stem cells, scientists used gene chips to find which genes were switched on in the stem cells.
Group of genes was shown to be specifically expressed in hair stem cells only and researchers can use these genes to identify the same hair cells in humans.
Interestingly, "monoxidil, one of only two FDA-approved treatments for hair loss, is thought to alter hair growth by affecting potassium channels39. Intriguingly, Dr. Cotsarelis' group discovered that the expression of genes encoding potassium channels and related genes was upregulated in hair follicle stem cells". This almost suggest that Monoxide (Rogaine) stimulates hair grows by acting on hair stem cells.
Based on: Newscientist.com and Nature Biotechnology publication:
http://www.nature.com/cgi-taf/DynaPage.taf?file=/nbt/journal/vaop/ncurrent/abs/nbt950.html |
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