Posted on: January 15, 2004
Not so long ago Dr. Jahoda and his reasearch group reported that dermal cells of the hair follicles can transform into blood cells.
Now, the same group reports that in addition to forming blood cells, dermal papilla (DP) and dermal sheath (DS) cells from hair follicle are capable to become fat and bone tissue.
Jahoda beleives that they were able to create lines of DP and DS cells that show stem cells properties. Like stem cells they exclude rhodamine 123 dye in the "dye exclusion test" has been reported to be an identifying feature of stem cells. When these cell lines were places in culture medium known to induce fat and bone cells differentiation, they showed the capacity to make lipid and to produce calcified material (bone).
However, Jahoda reports that "different clones had varied behaviour and there was no obvious correlation between their stem cell capabilities and dye exclusion or selected gene expression markers".
Jahoda beleives that "as a highly accessible source, capable of being discretely isolated, the follicle has important potentially as a stem cell source for tissue engineering and cell therapy purposes".
From: Exp Dermatol, Dec 2003
By: Jahoda C et.al. |
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