Just remember this, if they find a preventative cure BEFORE people lose their hair then it is forever game over for us. I think Taiwan is our only hope and we will know 3-4 months. Since, I think a Preventative treatment will simply be a Pill that could be discovered at anytime whereas growing a hundred thousand Organs on your head is much more complicated.
I am an optimist but I truly believe Taiwan is the only hope.
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Locke999 - your last paragraph is very true and why I say if this hair cloning by Taiwan does not work then it is game over for the current hair thinning generation since if they find a way to avoid losing hair--and I think this will more than likely be the case--then the rest of us are the last to lose. Since no profit in developing a real hair cure for the last of us. It is unfortunate but true.
That is why I say This Is It For Me. If Taiwan does not work out, game over. Also, L'Orneal stated they may have a preventive pill for grey hair out in 2015-note, preventative thus if you already have grey hair it will not work. If true, it means people with normal color hair just take a pill and will always have their natural color hair whereas those who have grey hair will have to dye it (or not).
But regardless of non disclosure agreement, remember it is a University and much less likely to sue someone just because they mentioned their results, and if it does not work then who is going to care if they tell other people.
This it it. Life comes down to a few moments and for me at least this one hair trial, and I know what the odds are but it is all I've got. Either way just let me know the results in June/July.Leave a comment:
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well the good thing is, if this Taiwanese method works out we won't really need a preventative cure anymore. Of course a single treatment which is capable of saving all of your hair till your death would be the cherry on the cake as it's probably cheaper than getting cells injected a few times, but likely no one will wait for that when it's possible to turn a NW7 into a NW0 for less than 10k dollars one day.
I highly doubt that they find a cure for the general causes BEFORE having a cure for the symptoms.Leave a comment:
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nasalz1,
I think if they followed a non-disclosure policy, none of the patients will be able to release any information to the public unless they do it anonymously, which would then be overlooked and unreliable.
And any timeline that any company put out is their most optimistic timeline, and not a guarantee. Things almost never go as planned.
And remember, human biology is many times more complex than machines. We can transplant hair just like we can transplant the heart. But we can not currently grow a 100% properly working heart like we can't grow a properly working hair follicle.
Up to this point, no one has been able to reverse the aging process, only delay it.
And my own prediction is that if someone ever find a preventative cure that works perfectly, the industry would find no need to find a cure for those of us who are already balding/bald since we would be the last. Not that I am hoping for it to be this way.Leave a comment:
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The treatment to create more hair comes down to Follica or Taiwan National University Hospital (TNUH) hair cloning. Seriously doubt anyone else is close and I would tend to believe it is TNUH hair cloning or litterally not anything else within the next decade.
The good thing given the patience size of TNUH Hair Loss treatment that if information is not overtly provided to the public it will be found invertly through a few of the 400 participants telling what there results are and probably with photos too.
As we should begin to hear about the results starting in June, just a guess based they stated they are about to start and if they start March 1 it takes 3-4 weeks for them to grow millions of cloned cells then it takes 6 weeks for those cells to get hair to a point to break the skin level so to speak. Then hair grows at 1/2 inch a month. Thus in June or July we should begin to here reports about hair growing, if it works.
Then we need to know about thickness, density, texture, angle, color, quality and success rate on the different patient types. And, I believe since it does not involve new drugs that if it really does work expect to see it 3 years from now. Why so fast? It is just a person's own hair cells being injected, why they are calling it a medical procedure. And people like us are going to push hard to make them to allow this one medical procedure be allowed ASAP expediting the process.
Either way just get this perfected ASAP or let it be known it does not work as I will no longer follow this cr@p and do not care if they have a real cure 10 years from now I just will not care.
We can go to the moon, achieve Fusion, do heart transplants but apparently growing Normal hair again on top of a person's head is impossible at least in a time period I care about. You will be seeing more posts about me on the TNUH cloned hair thread over the coming months. For me this treatment works over the coming months which I know is a long shot or forget about this topic forever. Not trying to be negative just tired of Waiting.
Well at least we find out if this treatment works in 3-4 months then it is over either way. I am going to assume 34 1/2 more months and I think that is a real target date until it hits the market, I am an optimist. Or, I throw my new combs get tossed in the trash can and I forever forget this topic.
It all comes down to the next 3-4 months for me. Good lluck.Leave a comment:
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This is extremely exciting news, and Im not one to get excited usually. The science here is real folks, its only a matter of time.Leave a comment:
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well that's really good news, esp. for everyone younger than 20. most of them likely won't need to deal with hair loss in serious stages anymore. but being a 25-year old I want them to hurry up a bit
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Thanks Desmond! I haven't sent the email yet. Not being a native english speaker, I guess I'm not the best candidate to do the job, but I guess I'll give it a try.
For those of you wanting to read their papers but can not access them, here's the key points in their 2008 study. If anyone is able to access their 2011 study, it would be really appreciated. I'm still trying to get my friends on another forum to track it down
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Self-assembly of dermal papilla cells into inductive spheroidal microtissues on poly(ethylene-co-vinyl alcohol) membranes for hair follicle regeneration
Received 19 April 2008
Accepted 12 May 2008
Tai-Horng Young, Chiao-Yun Lee, Hsien-Ching Chiu, Chih-Jung Hsu, Sung-Jan Lin
Unlike other fields of tissue reconstruction, such as adipose tissue and cartilage reconstruction which involves only one type of cells, production of human HFs in vitro by inducing cultured epithelial cells into a complex HF mini-organ is very challenging. Though organ culture of excised HFs in vitro has been demonstrated, efficient neogenesis of human HFs in adult life in vitro has not been achieved.
Another approach for HF bioengineering is to generate environments that allow skin to simulate the complex HF morphogenic process in embryological stage. One particular subject regarding this is the dominant role of DP cells in guiding the non-follicular epidermis to develop into HF structures. During the initial stage of HF morphogenesis, DP cells self-aggregate in the dermis and play a vital role in guiding the epidermal placode to develop into follicular structures. It was initially demonstrated that freshly isolated DP can induce new HFs when it is properly placed in the skin in rodents. However, to generate a large number of new HFs, DP cells should be expanded in vitro. The in vitro expansion of DP cells was first achieved by Jahoda and Oliver. The same group and other researchers have also demonstrated that cultured DP cells also retain the ability of inducing new HFs when they are transplanted in close proximity to the epidermis.
Of note is that the ability of DP cells to induce new HFs is dependent on their intercellular organization. Physiologically, DP cells are aggregated in the hair bulb. When they are cultured in vitro on conventional culture plates, they show a tendency to aggregate. The HF induction activity is only preserved when they are transplanted to the subepidermal space as dense aggregates.
Therefore, neogenesis of HF can be achieved by transplanting cultured DP cells as dense multicellular aggregates or microtissues. However, high efficiency of DP expansion and HF neogenesis should be achieved before such procedures can be put into clinical applications.
In addition to the large number of new HFs required, HFs should also be regenerated with a natural density and spacing on the desired body surface. To solve the above-mentioned issues in HF engineering, we can employ a three-step approach:
1) First, DP cells are expanded in vitro. The method utilized should be able to expand a large number of DPs within an acceptable period.
2) Second, DP cells are cultivated into dense microtissues. Since thousands of DP microtissues are needed, the method used in this step is also a key to the efficiency of the entire process.
3) Lastly, DP cells are transplanted with desired spacing to regenerate HFs.
The expansion of DP cells has been demonstrated by explant culture on conventional culture plates. However, there is currently lack of an efficient method to cultivate DP cells into dense multicellular aggregates on a large scale for the purpose of HF engineering. A two-step rotation and floatation method has been employed to generate tissues with limited follicular differentiation by using single cells isolated from the lip skin of fetal rats, but the method is labor taking and cells from adult rats fail to aggregate into microtissues in this system.
We have shown that cells can self-assemble into dense spheroids on controlled biomaterial surfaces [27–29]. Up to date, the interaction of DP with biomaterials has been rarely examined and the ability of controlled biomaterial surfaces to enhance the selfassembly of DP cells into microtissues has not been tested. Though self-aggregation of DP cells is essential for HF morphogenesis and physiology, the detailed dynamics and mechanism regarding this self-assembling behavior have not been investigated in detail. Establishing an in vitro model for DP self-aggregation may contribute to researches in this field.
In this work, we describe the behavior of DP cells on poly- (ethylene-co-vinyl alcohol) (EVAL) membrane surface, especially the spontaneous growth of DP cells into spheroidal microtissues that are able to induce new HFs. This self-aggregation is associated with a higher local cell density, relatively weakened cell–substrate adhesivity and enhanced cell migration on EVAL. Our results suggest that an adhesive biomaterial is suitable for quick expansion of DP cells and a relatively low-adhesive surface is required for DP aggregation. In addition to HF engineering, this system can also help to analyze the self-aggregation behavior of DP cells.
Materials and methods
1) Poly(ethylene-co-vinyl alcohol) (EVAL) membrane preparation: Commercially available EVAL (E105A, Kuraray, Japan, 56 mol% vinyl alcohol) was
used in this study. EVAL membrane with a dense structure was prepared as previously described [30,31]. The EVAL solution was prepared by dissolving EVAL in dimethyl sulfoxide (Merck, Germany) to a final concentration of 20 wt.% at 60 C in a water bath.
2) Cell culture: Vibrissal HFs were isolated by scissors and forceps from skin specimens fromcheeks ofWistar rats in Dulbecco’s Modified Eagle’s Medium (DMEM) (Gibco) supplemented with 1-fold concentrated Antibiotic–Antimycotic
*NOTE: this was a study in rats...
Results
a) The formation of multicellular DP microtissues on EVAL membranes at higher seeding cell number
After 3 days in culture, formation of multiple dense DP microtissues can be observed on EVAL.
We characterize the number and size distribution of the DP microtissues formed on EVAL after 5 days in culture (Table 1). Approximately, the diameter of the microtissues formed on EVAL on day 5 can vary from tens of mm to about 300 mm. Since the diameters of the freshly isolated DPs of Wistar rats are about 100– 200 mm, microtissues with an average diameter larger than 125 mm are calculated. The number of microtissues increases as the seeding number is increased. At the seeding number of 160,000, the diameter of the microtissues is mainly within the range of 125– 150 mm. Overall, about 47 microtissues (diameter> 125 mm) can be obtained on an EVAL surface of 1.9 cm2 with a single seeding of 160,000 DP cells.
The scanning electron micrograph shows that the microtissue is a spheroidal structure (Fig. 2). This structure is similar to DPs in vivo, i.e. aggregated as a compact multicellular mass.
High viability of cells in DP microtissues and the transformable cell morphology on different substratum
After the microtissues are reseeded on TCPS surface, the cells are able to grow and migrate out of the microtissues on day 1 (Fig. 3). The microtissues start to disintegrate on day 2 and further grow into confluent flat cells on day 8 (Fig. 3). This observation indicates that the cells in DP microtissues are viable and the morphologies of DP cells are transformable on different culture substratum. We then quantify the cell viability and reveal that the cell viability in DP microtissues obtained on EVAL is different from that in DP spheroids generated by hanging drop method [24]. The cell viability in DP microtissues on EVAL is much higher than that in DP spheroids generated by hanging drop method (mean viability is 96.39 0.09 and 53.3 3.3%, respectively; p-value < 0.001). The result suggests that the viability of cells in microtissues can be affected by the method employed to generate microtissues.
DP microtissues are able to induce new HFs
We then ask whether DP microtissues generated on EVAL retain the HF induction activity. When DP microtissues are mixed with newborn mouse epidermal cells and injected into the hypodermis of nude mice in a patch assay, similar to positive controls (data not shown), they are able to induce new HFs (Fig. 4). In the negative controls, no HF is revealed (data not shown). The results show that, in addition to preserving molecular markers, DP microtissues generated on EVAL still retain HF induction ability, the signature function of DP cells.
Conclusion
Self-assembly of DP cells into spheroidal inductive microtissues can be facilitated when cells are seeded at appropriate densities on EVAL surface. Formation of DP microtissue is associated with enhanced cell migration and lower cell–substrate adhesivity on EVAL surface. On the contrary, a more adherent surface, such as TCPS, allows faster DP cell expansion in a monolayered morphology.
Our results suggest that, for efficient large-scale production of DP microtissues for HF engineering, cells can be first expanded on more adhesive surface and then transferred to EVAL to facilitate the self-assembly into microtissues.We also characterize the dynamics of DP microtissue formation on EVAL. After cells attach to EVAL, active migration, intercellular collision and intercellular aggregation lead to microtissue formation. Our system is of potential to be applied to HF engineering and the investigation of DP selfaggregation.Leave a comment:
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I have a feeling EVAL is not going into our scalp. I think they are only culturing the DP cells on it! Once in a spheroid microtissue structure, they are removed from the EVAL and simply implanted. Did anyone get that vibe reading their paper? We really need access to the second paper.Leave a comment:
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For those of you wanting to read their papers but can not access them, here's the key points in their 2008 study. If anyone is able to access their 2011 study, it would be really appreciated. I'm still trying to get my friends on another forum to track it down
__________________________________________________ ______________
Self-assembly of dermal papilla cells into inductive spheroidal microtissues on poly(ethylene-co-vinyl alcohol) membranes for hair follicle regeneration
Received 19 April 2008
Accepted 12 May 2008
Tai-Horng Young, Chiao-Yun Lee, Hsien-Ching Chiu, Chih-Jung Hsu, Sung-Jan Lin
Unlike other fields of tissue reconstruction, such as adipose tissue and cartilage reconstruction which involves only one type of cells, production of human HFs in vitro by inducing cultured epithelial cells into a complex HF mini-organ is very challenging. Though organ culture of excised HFs in vitro has been demonstrated, efficient neogenesis of human HFs in adult life in vitro has not been achieved.
Another approach for HF bioengineering is to generate environments that allow skin to simulate the complex HF morphogenic process in embryological stage. One particular subject regarding this is the dominant role of DP cells in guiding the non-follicular epidermis to develop into HF structures. During the initial stage of HF morphogenesis, DP cells self-aggregate in the dermis and play a vital role in guiding the epidermal placode to develop into follicular structures. It was initially demonstrated that freshly isolated DP can induce new HFs when it is properly placed in the skin in rodents. However, to generate a large number of new HFs, DP cells should be expanded in vitro. The in vitro expansion of DP cells was first achieved by Jahoda and Oliver. The same group and other researchers have also demonstrated that cultured DP cells also retain the ability of inducing new HFs when they are transplanted in close proximity to the epidermis.
Of note is that the ability of DP cells to induce new HFs is dependent on their intercellular organization. Physiologically, DP cells are aggregated in the hair bulb. When they are cultured in vitro on conventional culture plates, they show a tendency to aggregate. The HF induction activity is only preserved when they are transplanted to the subepidermal space as dense aggregates.
Therefore, neogenesis of HF can be achieved by transplanting cultured DP cells as dense multicellular aggregates or microtissues. However, high efficiency of DP expansion and HF neogenesis should be achieved before such procedures can be put into clinical applications.
In addition to the large number of new HFs required, HFs should also be regenerated with a natural density and spacing on the desired body surface. To solve the above-mentioned issues in HF engineering, we can employ a three-step approach:
1) First, DP cells are expanded in vitro. The method utilized should be able to expand a large number of DPs within an acceptable period.
2) Second, DP cells are cultivated into dense microtissues. Since thousands of DP microtissues are needed, the method used in this step is also a key to the efficiency of the entire process.
3) Lastly, DP cells are transplanted with desired spacing to regenerate HFs.
The expansion of DP cells has been demonstrated by explant culture on conventional culture plates. However, there is currently lack of an efficient method to cultivate DP cells into dense multicellular aggregates on a large scale for the purpose of HF engineering. A two-step rotation and floatation method has been employed to generate tissues with limited follicular differentiation by using single cells isolated from the lip skin of fetal rats, but the method is labor taking and cells from adult rats fail to aggregate into microtissues in this system.
We have shown that cells can self-assemble into dense spheroids on controlled biomaterial surfaces [27–29]. Up to date, the interaction of DP with biomaterials has been rarely examined and the ability of controlled biomaterial surfaces to enhance the selfassembly of DP cells into microtissues has not been tested. Though self-aggregation of DP cells is essential for HF morphogenesis and physiology, the detailed dynamics and mechanism regarding this self-assembling behavior have not been investigated in detail. Establishing an in vitro model for DP self-aggregation may contribute to researches in this field.
In this work, we describe the behavior of DP cells on poly- (ethylene-co-vinyl alcohol) (EVAL) membrane surface, especially the spontaneous growth of DP cells into spheroidal microtissues that are able to induce new HFs. This self-aggregation is associated with a higher local cell density, relatively weakened cell–substrate adhesivity and enhanced cell migration on EVAL. Our results suggest that an adhesive biomaterial is suitable for quick expansion of DP cells and a relatively low-adhesive surface is required for DP aggregation. In addition to HF engineering, this system can also help to analyze the self-aggregation behavior of DP cells.
Materials and methods
1) Poly(ethylene-co-vinyl alcohol) (EVAL) membrane preparation: Commercially available EVAL (E105A, Kuraray, Japan, 56 mol% vinyl alcohol) was
used in this study. EVAL membrane with a dense structure was prepared as previously described [30,31]. The EVAL solution was prepared by dissolving EVAL in dimethyl sulfoxide (Merck, Germany) to a final concentration of 20 wt.% at 60 C in a water bath.
2) Cell culture: Vibrissal HFs were isolated by scissors and forceps from skin specimens fromcheeks ofWistar rats in Dulbecco’s Modified Eagle’s Medium (DMEM) (Gibco) supplemented with 1-fold concentrated Antibiotic–Antimycotic
*NOTE: this was a study in rats...
Results
a) The formation of multicellular DP microtissues on EVAL membranes at higher seeding cell number
After 3 days in culture, formation of multiple dense DP microtissues can be observed on EVAL.
We characterize the number and size distribution of the DP microtissues formed on EVAL after 5 days in culture (Table 1). Approximately, the diameter of the microtissues formed on EVAL on day 5 can vary from tens of mm to about 300 mm. Since the diameters of the freshly isolated DPs of Wistar rats are about 100– 200 mm, microtissues with an average diameter larger than 125 mm are calculated. The number of microtissues increases as the seeding number is increased. At the seeding number of 160,000, the diameter of the microtissues is mainly within the range of 125– 150 mm. Overall, about 47 microtissues (diameter> 125 mm) can be obtained on an EVAL surface of 1.9 cm2 with a single seeding of 160,000 DP cells.
The scanning electron micrograph shows that the microtissue is a spheroidal structure (Fig. 2). This structure is similar to DPs in vivo, i.e. aggregated as a compact multicellular mass.
High viability of cells in DP microtissues and the transformable cell morphology on different substratum
After the microtissues are reseeded on TCPS surface, the cells are able to grow and migrate out of the microtissues on day 1 (Fig. 3). The microtissues start to disintegrate on day 2 and further grow into confluent flat cells on day 8 (Fig. 3). This observation indicates that the cells in DP microtissues are viable and the morphologies of DP cells are transformable on different culture substratum. We then quantify the cell viability and reveal that the cell viability in DP microtissues obtained on EVAL is different from that in DP spheroids generated by hanging drop method [24]. The cell viability in DP microtissues on EVAL is much higher than that in DP spheroids generated by hanging drop method (mean viability is 96.39 0.09 and 53.3 3.3%, respectively; p-value < 0.001). The result suggests that the viability of cells in microtissues can be affected by the method employed to generate microtissues.
DP microtissues are able to induce new HFs
We then ask whether DP microtissues generated on EVAL retain the HF induction activity. When DP microtissues are mixed with newborn mouse epidermal cells and injected into the hypodermis of nude mice in a patch assay, similar to positive controls (data not shown), they are able to induce new HFs (Fig. 4). In the negative controls, no HF is revealed (data not shown). The results show that, in addition to preserving molecular markers, DP microtissues generated on EVAL still retain HF induction ability, the signature function of DP cells.
Conclusion
Self-assembly of DP cells into spheroidal inductive microtissues can be facilitated when cells are seeded at appropriate densities on EVAL surface. Formation of DP microtissue is associated with enhanced cell migration and lower cell–substrate adhesivity on EVAL surface. On the contrary, a more adherent surface, such as TCPS, allows faster DP cell expansion in a monolayered morphology.
Our results suggest that, for efficient large-scale production of DP microtissues for HF engineering, cells can be first expanded on more adhesive surface and then transferred to EVAL to facilitate the self-assembly into microtissues.We also characterize the dynamics of DP microtissue formation on EVAL. After cells attach to EVAL, active migration, intercellular collision and intercellular aggregation lead to microtissue formation. Our system is of potential to be applied to HF engineering and the investigation of DP selfaggregation.Leave a comment:
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Also just for the record, this isn't Jahoda's culturing method. They're going about it in a completely dofferent way. I'll try and summarise it this weekend for everyone.
Btw, did anyone send them an email?Leave a comment:
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Hey brother
yeah I managed to get my hands on ine of the papers but not all of them. Uploading them would be fantastic
Btw southern just posted some more studies. Is anyone able to maybe just copy paste the studies on here? This way we can have a great database of everything to do with this technique
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