Stem cells found in hair follicles can develop into nerve cells and might be useful in medical treatment, U.S.-based researchers reported Monday.
They found that stem cells taken from the follicles of mouse whiskers matured into neurons and other neural cells known as astrocytes and oligodendrocytes, as well as into skin cells, smooth muscle cells, and pigment-producing cells called melanocytes.
The finding, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, offers another potential source of the master cells, which scientists hope may provide a good source of new tissue and organ transplants.
The best known source of stem cells is the bone marrow, but researchers hope to find more easily accessible sites and want to experiment to see if different sources of stem cells may offer cells with different qualities.
Stem cells are the body’s master cells. So-called adult stem cells are found throughout the body. A more controversial source comes from days-old embryos.
Tissue transplants in the future?
Robert Hoffman at San Diego-based AntiCancer Inc., and colleagues at the University of California San Diego and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology said it may some day be possible to take a person’s own stem cells from hair follicles and grow a tissue transplant.
Their findings, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, build on previous work that has found stem cells in hair follicles.
In September a team at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute and The Rockefeller University in New York found stem cells from hair follicles that grew hair, stretches of skin and sweat glands.
In March, a team at the University of Pennsylvania Medical Center found stem cells in mice that sprouted hair when transplanted, as well as to other types of skin cells.
Researchers hope that transplanting stem cells could provide treatment for a range of diseases such as Parkinson’s, in which brain cells are destroyed; diabetes, in which insulin-producing cells die; or spinal cord injuries.
