A team in Japan, according to an article in Scotland’s Daily Record, have come up with an original hair loss treatment using germs and McDonald’s chips – We kid you not!
Japanese Study
Professor Junji Fukuda, of Yokohama National University, led a team investigating hair regenerative therapy, the latest arm of medicine looking at hair loss – The idea behind it is regenerating the the hair follicles themselves, where one of the main obstacles to progress has been the ability to grow Hair Follicle Germs (HFG’s) in significant numbers. These HFG’s are a vital component that fuel follicle development so simply being able to produce them en masse for the first time is an achievement in itself.
A Vital Ingredient
Professor Fukuda did not have to look far for the magic ingredient that would transform HFG production. It turns out that the chemical McDonalds put in their fries, dimethylpolysiloxane, to stop the fat from foaming (nice) is extremely efficient at allowing oxygen to pass through – making it the perfect substrate for the Professor’s team and enabling 5,000 HFG’s to be produced simultaneously, before being used to seed stem cells prior to being injected into mice.
The results were the usual snaps of previously bald but now hairy mice.. something we have seen many times before as the results of many hair loss experiments for so many products.
A Human Variant?
There is still a way to go before the Professor and his team can confidently transfer their techniques to humans. Not least the task of producing human HFG’s, though he is optimistic about their chances. “…we have preliminary data that suggests human HFG formation using human keratinocytes and dermal papal cells.”
HIS Hair Clinic
We will watch Professor Fukuda’s progress with great interest – it is another therapy in the works that would give women sufferers an option. If it were to prove an option then maybe. Our thanks to the Daily Record for bringing the story to our attention, see their take on it by clicking here.
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