Would Follicept's transdermal technology be a benefit in delivering Acell? Sorry if that's a stupid question, but I had to throw it out there.
04-01-2015 08:16 AM
FearTheLoss
Quote:
Originally Posted by willy
Would Follicept's transdermal technology be a benefit in delivering Acell? Sorry if that's a stupid question, but I had to throw it out there.
No, not at all.
04-01-2015 09:11 AM
Swooping
Interesting. I was surprised by the Italian study actually that a horizontal split could regenerate hair follicles even if they grow thinner/smaller. Basically that means that also the bulge is capable of generating de-novo morphogenesis. I'll go over the whole study this week. The possibility is there no doubt, some problems I foresee though;
- Speed. Assuming the hair follicle could be split with a "harsh" cut either through a horizontal axis or vertical axis this shouldn't be a problem. However if it is really needed to properly dissect cell lines from each other that is going to be pretty damn time invasive under a microscope. Time means money. It isn't a realistic scenario to work 10 minutes per graft. It would be hugely expensive and no way the hair transplant industry would innovate on such a thing even if the possibility would be there? They are pretty damn protective already.
- Harsh environment recipient. This is another problem. Normal FUE survival rates assuming you go with a good surgeon are 90%+. When you cut a hair follicle you basically induce mechanical trauma. This means that the tissue itself is already broadly way more susceptible to environmental stress and oxidation stress outside of the body. One would almost have to ensure that the splitted hair follicle would be needed to be place back as soon as possible into the recipient. However the recipient itself is a problem also indeed as Gardner said. This isn't exactly a embryogenesis environment. There are indeed many bad factors expressed in bald scalp. No wonder that even with normal FUE when you induce mechanical trauma to the hair follicle even a fully intact hair follicle can easily fail to grow. FUE is just so good nowadays because the transection rates are very low and subsequently good mediums like hypothermosol + ATP are used and delicate handling is performed. Overall the best surgeons just have everything lined out in an excellent protocol.
Nonetheless these are all things that can probably be tweaked. And the good thing about it all that with such practice you can work in vivo with direct observational experience. This is the best thing you can do/have in science. Plus you can work on humans, not on mice ;).
FearTheLoss do did you watch the bald truth? Do you have a recap of what Dr. Wesley said there?
04-01-2015 11:02 AM
FearTheLoss
With regards to splitting the follicle horizontally, what I gathered was this split would be done as the actual extraction, so there would be no need to dissect the follicle under a microscope after extraction. I did watch the show, Dr. Wesley answered all of the questions I had posted, and assumptions I made, and I was pretty much correct in what he is aiming to do. Although he doesn't think ACell will play as big of a role in the outcome as I had initially hypothesized.
What I gathered is he thinks the top portion of the follicle staying in it's original environment will be the most important thing in regards to regeneration. He seems to really believe in the regeneration aspect of the surgical procedure. I think it's also important for everyone to recognize, there are many studies done on donor regeneration and follicle duplication, this is not something Dr. Wesley has made up, he's just one of the few doctors that has decided to use the science and information at hand from various researchers. These are independent studies done by researchers and doctors he has no affiliation with.
I continue to have very much respect for Dr. Wesley and was again impressed by everything he had to say last night on the show. We as a community should be thankful that he is taking hours out of his day to keep us up to date on his work.
People who are frustrated with the timeline need to recognize the complexity behind designing technology like this, and be thankful that Dr. Wesley is doing extensive trialling before he uses this in practice. Dr. Wesley is a great man, and an exceptional doctor and has nothing but his patients' best interest at heart.
Swooping- you should really listen to the show when it becomes available online. It's pretty interesting stuff.
