Study: Stem cells provide clue to beating baldness

January 5th, 2011 - 11:05 pm ICT by Aishwarya Bhatt  

Pennsylvania, Jan 5 (THAINDIAN NEWS) Researchers say they have identified a way to beat baldness.

A dormant stem cell has been identified by researchers and they say it may be the key to preventing baldness. They compared follicles from the scalp of hairy patches and bald patches. Though they realized that both samples contained the same number of stem cells, a particular cell called progenitor was dormant in the bald patches.

The study leader, Dr George Cotsarelis, from the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia said that the findings give scientists hope. He said that the fact that they have been able to identify the stem cell indicates that they are closer to getting permanent treatment for baldness.

He said that, “The fact that there are normal numbers of stem cells in bald scalp gives us hope for reactivating those stem cells.”

The findings of the research were published in the journal, Journal of Clinical Investigation.

The researchers added that the next step to making baldness a thing of the past is the study of how to grow progenitor from the other stem cells. Scientists plan to grow stem cells into progenitors later and then replace them onto the head.

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