Baldness is not a problem of today, many men in different ages struggled with this unpleasant phenomenon, but only now there is a chance to get rid of it completely. A revolutionary method of the scientists from America opens up a perspective for those who need it. The peculiarity of this method is the use of the 3D printer and the forms printed on it.
Although the hair transplant procedure has developed quite successfully in recent decades, its essence was the redistribution of hair follicles available in man. The researchers began to grow these cells in laboratory conditions quite recently. The revolutionary method of American scholars opens up access to the creation of hair bulbs using printed forms on a 3D printer. For the first time, human follicular cells were fully cultivated in laboratory conditions.
The essence of the breakthrough made by Columbia University specialists is to unite several innovations in a single method. First, they created special plastic shapes with the help of three-dimensional printing, the contents of which resembles a natural medium that provides nutrition for hair growth through microscopic holes. Moreover, such miniature forms were made for the first time. The second innovation is a mixture of new growth factors. After growing skin around the shape, donor hair cells are placed inside it. JAK-STAT molecules, which are introduced into the mixture to trigger the development of follicles and awaken the metabolism, should be maintained and stimulated to start growing.
Angela Cristiano, the project manager, outlined the essence of the discovered method and called the process of creating properly arranged and modified hair massifs for transplanting to patients “a hair follicle farm”.
Before the method becomes widely used in clinical practice, scientists have to conduct a series of trials and additional studies, but the prediction for the commercial use of the method is already optimistic.
