A team of researchers from Japan studying the processes of hair follicle growth and hair pigmentation has successfully generated hair follicles in cultures, by controlling epithelial-mesenchymal interactions (EMI), and the arrangement of epithelial and mesenchymal cells in three dimensions, in vitro. The scientists, headed by Tatsuto Kageyama, PhD, an assistant professor with the faculty of engineering at Yokohama National University, suggest that the hair follicle model will provide new insights into hair follicle development, which could point to the development of new approaches for treating hair loss disorders, and also potentially have relevance for animal testing and drug screening.
