Recently technology has made huge strides in providing us with new ways of replacing damaged body parts, with the ability to 3d print organs being one of the most revolutionary changes that could soon see us being able to replace damaged organs. Now scientists in Japan are showing off again by showing that transplanted skin can grow hair.
Shown in the image above, the transplanted skin is marked with a green protein and clearly shows that the transplanted skin is actually growing hair. The process started by taking stem cells from a mouse’ gums and was crafted into multiple layered pieces of skin, sweat glands and hair follicles included. Upon being transplanted to a “nude mouse”, the skin integrated with the new host and even grew the hair shown above.
With the results showing promise the team says that the end result may be 5-10 from being translated to human research. Dr Takashi Tsuji from the Riken Centre for Developmental Biology in Kobe was part of the team that conducted the research and is quoted as saying:
“Up until now, artificial skin development has been hampered by the fact that the skin lacked the important organs, such as hair follicles and exocrine glands, which allow the skin to play its important role in regulation
With this new technique, we have successfully grown skin that replicates the function of normal tissue.
We are coming ever closer to the dream of being able to recreate actual organs in the lab for transplantation
With so many breakthroughs and advanced in science thanks to technology it’s hard not to agree with the dream of being able to recreate and replace organs with those built in a lab.
