ABSTRACT
Most hair restoration physicians believed that “hair cloning,” or cultured follicular cell implantation, would have become a practical reality. Follicular cell implantation for hair loss remains an exciting possibility, but true hair multiplication is a long way off from practical reality in the clinic. The basic rationale and conceptual framework for using cell therapy to treat hair loss has been discussed in prior reviews. The basis for cell therapy began in the fundamental research of normal mammalian hair growth. It has been established that hair growth occurs because of the dynamic interaction between epidermal and mesenchymal cell populations within the hair bulb. The follicular neogenesis models that have been developed to study hair growth are being retooled for cell therapy, with the goal of creating hair follicles in vitro first and then implanting these into areas of alopecia. In an autologous cell therapy for hair loss, adult keratinocytes will be needed, and in particular those with “bulge” stem cell properties.
