Hair growth-promoting stem cells acquired supra-regenerative capability when treated with vitamin D3, laboratory studies showed.
Hairless skin from rats grew significantly more hair when inoculated with D3-treated murine dermal papilla cells (mDPCs) than did skin specimens exposed to murine dermal fibroblasts treated with vitamin D3, Japanese investigators reported online in Stem Cells Translational Medicine.
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The researchers also found that human DPCs treated with vitamin D3 exhibited upregulation of Wnt10b and transforming growth factor beta-2 (TGF-β2). Both genes are associated with folliculogenesis, and their vitamin D3-induced upregulation was specific to hDPCs and not seen in human dermal fibroblasts.
Collectively, the results suggest that vitamin D3-stimulated DPCs has potential as a treatment for baldness in humans, Aoi and colleagues concluded.