Punk mouse holds key to curing baldness

I have to say this left me quite speechless:



[ATSimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/files/img/di4f9081c1.jpg[/ATSimg]

A tuft of hair grown on the back of a bald lab mouse may hold the key to curing baldness in humans.

A research team in Japan used stem cell cultivation to create hair follicles from scratch. These follicles were then implanted into the hairless mice where they grew hairs.

The stem cells were taken from a balding man and the next step is to implant the created follicles into a human head in order to win the battle against balding, experienced by more than seven million men in the UK.

The technique may also allow men to re-grow hair in their original colour, even if they’ve already started to go grey.

The researchers from Tokyo University believe a cure for baldness could be engineered within three years. It will be an expensive treatment, however, and they believe it could be more useful in reconstructive situations where traditional hair transplant operations aren’t possible.

And there’s more research to be done, as the team do not yet know if it would be possible to recreate an entire head of hair. In this study, the hairs had to be implanted one at a time, which is fine on a mouse but a rather different proposition on an entire bald head!

Source

Well despite the commendable caution this really does look like a realistic solution, given time. And with the stem cells taken from the individual concerned I wouldn't anticipate any moral qualms.

Looks like a genuine breakthrough. I suppose the biggest question will be 'How long before it's affordable?'



Mod edit: Helped fix thread title on member's request.

Don't you wish you could change the title?

Thanks for the thread

I hope I never need this, but nice to know it is almost available-well it will be available when big pharm figures out how to make it only last for a couple of weeks so you have to keep buying it.

reply to post by samlf3rd


lol no way the title of some kind of punk mice and curing baldness has a ring to it.

reply to post by samlf3rd


You're welcome.

...it will be available when big pharm figures out how to make it only last for a couple of weeks so you have to keep buying it.

As it happens they did come up with that type of approach quite a while back. Here's the low-down. (Don't miss the story of how it was discovered, BTW,
— it's quite fascinating.)

But you're right. When it comes to this new approach, they'll be charging by the cm²...



reply to post by 1beerplease


Thanks, dude. The title's mine actually.

Damn it!

If I get this done, I can no longer tell the ladies my bald spot is really just the solar panel to my sex machine

Kidding aside...

I'm sure in our materialistic/vain world this will actually help a lot of men and women get past any insecurities they have with having lost their hair. Good find OP but how is this any different then getting the type of hair transplants that exist already?

reply to post by Ericthenewbie

Good find OP but how is this any different then getting the type of hair transplants that exist already?

Well, with it being stem-cell based it would be as if the recipient was experiencing his/her first ever growth of hair. So in terms of a healthy shine & even colour you'd quite simply be looking at a wonderful head of hair.

It makes you wonder how long it would be before people start asking for their natural greying hair to be removed just so they could have total replacement therapy. I can see the clinics — and the TV adverts — before my waking eyes...

I was under the impression that the hair follicles remain but go dormant on men who produce this certain protein. It looks really no different that the standard hair restoration we have today. Now if there were a cream or something to that effect that would activate those follicles again, then we're cooking with grease!

ETA: Here's the article -

Male-pattern baldness may be caused by a protein in the scalp, according to research that raises the possibility drugs being tested by Merck & Co. (MRK) and Actelion Ltd. (ATLN) for other uses might prevent hair loss.

Bald spots had an excessive amount of a protein called prostaglandin D2 or PGD2, according to a study in Science Translational Medicine. Merck’s experimental treatment for facial flushing and Actelion’s allergy compound, both in late- stage studies, block the protein.

www.bloomberg.com...

Am I the only one who wants to put some clothes on that mouse?

reply to post by chrismicha77

Now if there were a cream or something to that effect that would activate those follicles again, then we're cooking with grease!

My second post above links to just such a product. It's been around for quite a while — though it ain't cheap!

Here's a link to one of the commercialised products. I understand it can be quite effective. (Just be sure to check out the first link above. The list of possible side-effects is, erm, interesting.)

reply to post by pause4thought


Yeah I've used Rogaine before but it's for the crown area of the head and I've got male pattern baldness in the front. But I used it anyway and believe it or not it did start to work. Unfortunately it is quite expensive and you have to use it twice a day and then eventually it stops working. I quit using it and within three months all the new grown hair was gone. It's amazing the technology we have but yet there is no cure for simple balding.

The thing is, there is more money in the prevention and not the cure.

I'd rather just be bald. Wouldn't this be akin to botox and boob jobs?

Ha! That mouse reminds me of this old one...the earmouse.

Originally posted by chrismicha77
reply to post by pause4thought

 

Yeah I've used Rogaine before but it's for the crown area of the head and I've got male pattern baldness in the front. But I used it anyway and believe it or not it did start to work. Unfortunately it is quite expensive and you have to use it twice a day and then eventually it stops working. I quit using it and within three months all the new grown hair was gone. It's amazing the technology we have but yet there is no cure for simple balding.

The thing is, there is more money in the prevention and not the cure.

That stuff contains Minoxidil, you'll grow boobies!

Originally posted by smurfy

Originally posted by chrismicha77
reply to post by pause4thought

 

Yeah I've used Rogaine before but it's for the crown area of the head and I've got male pattern baldness in the front. But I used it anyway and believe it or not it did start to work. Unfortunately it is quite expensive and you have to use it twice a day and then eventually it stops working. I quit using it and within three months all the new grown hair was gone. It's amazing the technology we have but yet there is no cure for simple balding.

The thing is, there is more money in the prevention and not the cure.

That stuff contains Minoxidil, you'll grow boobies!

Maybe that's why they got a little puffy! Does it raise estrogen?

In male pattern baldness, hair follicles actually shrink; they don't disappear - read more
The studies in mice show promise for baldness,...but it is unclear at this time whether people will respond to signals in the exact same way as the mice did during the experiments

The hairs in that pic look like they were just kind of stuck on there to me, but if they say they grew them, I'll take their word for it.

Oddly enough, my hair never looked as good as it does since most of it fell out...