Hair Follicle Stem Cells Involved in Healing

Hair Follicle Stem Cells Involved in Healing

Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania have learned that the stem cells contained in hair follicles help heal wounds in the skin. The press release is available from EurekAlert. Even minor-seeming skin wounds are a serious health issue for people with diabetes, circulatory problems, and some other conditions. While it has been known for a while that come new skin cells can come from a hair follicle, the number coming from deep in the follicle compared to the number in the skin near the wound has been unknown.

In this study, researchers used genetically engineered mice whose stem cells could be seen as blue with special equipment. The researchers were able to see where the stem cells were moving by watching the patterns of blue coloration. They learned that cells from the “bulge” portion of the hair follicle (the lowest area) quickly moved up the follicle and were about 30% of the total new cells when a wound begins to heal.

I am not sure what the implications of this research are, but certainly learning more about the healing process in general is significant. There has been other recent research on hair follicles in rats and mice which suggests that they have a lot of potential importance.