According to a team of Japanese researchers, it’s possible to grow a fully functional skin that has everything it needs, from hair follicles to sweat glands. Could this be a more effective treatment for people who deal with hair loss?

There are only a handful of treatments that deal with alopecia and other types of hair loss that occurs due to degradation of hair follicles in the skin.

But with the solution provided by these Japanese researchers, the new lab-grown skin might be able to offer new hope to those who want to cover their baldness.

Research leader Dr. Takashi Tsuji from the RIKEN Centre for Developmental Biology based in Kobe explains the newly designed skin has been fitted with fatty tissue and dermis, the layer where sweat glands and hair follicles are located.

This new technique has allowed the team to grow artificial skin successfully, mimicking  the function of the natural tissue. Their developments contribute to the advancement of bioengineering technologies that will be included in regenerative therapies for patients with scars, burns, and alopecia.

For the lab-developed skin, researchers used certain chemicals to transform cells from mouse gums into stem cells. The newly created stem cells were then transplanted into another mouse for testing.

Just a few days later, the stem cells started transforming into skin tissue, which was then removed and implanted into the original mice. The new skin allowed the mice to sweat and grow hair, as the organ bonded well with the original skin and started the creation of new tissues.

The findings of the RIKEN Center, featured in Science Advances, represent a giant leap in “creating artificial human skin in the laboratory that contains all three natural skin layers, a handful of the usual glands and even hair follicles.”

Before this discovery, advancement in the field of artificial skin has been prevented by the fact that the skin didn’t contain the essential organs, such as hair follicles or sweat glands.

Scientists have previously created in a lab the epidermis – or the outer skin layer – but it could never work if it wasn’t complete with the missing organs and functions of the natural skin.

More than just help people dealing with hair loss, the development of the Japanese researchers represents good news for burn victims and other individuals who require skin transplants.
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