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Article: Potential baldness cure: genetic trickery could coax hair re-growth and provide a treatment for baldness worth billions.(Hair follicles)
- Article from:
- Chemistry and Industry
- Article date:
- May 28, 2007
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2007 Society of Chemical Industry. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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A cure for baldness may be on the cards, with the discovery by US researchers of a gene that can trigger hair re-growth. The findings could be a boom for company Follica, which has licensed the technology, as experts say an effective cure for baldness could be worth billions.
It was thought that loss of adult hair follicles in mammals is permanent and that skin repairs instead of regenerates. But scientists at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine have found that making large wounds (1-2.25[cm.sup.2]) on the skin of mice triggers new follicles to form in the centre of the healed skin. Stem cells that do not normally form hair spur the development of ...