The Problems with Hair Cloning

1 - Unreliable Quantities

While the principle of hair cloning is proven, turning it into a practical technique for clinical use is fraught with problems. First, the results of implantation can be very variable. Even if they inject the same quantity of cells, and even if the cells are from the same donor, the number of hair follicles produced in response is extremely unreliable. There have been unofficial reports from two sources (Aderans/Bosley, Dr Jerry Cooley) that they have successfully induced hair growth in humans by using cultured cells. Unfortunately the success rate stated by both sources was poor. Implantation of cultured cells to volunteers by Aderans/Bosley produced just 2 hairs in a single individual. Dr Jerry Cooley implanted cultured cells into himself at fifteen different sites but only managed to promote one hair follicle to grow.

2 - Unreliable Angles

Second, the new hair follicles induced in studies using rats or mice are usually disorientated. Natural hair follicles grow hair with a “grain”, so on your scalp your hair grows in whirl pattern (usually clockwise) about the vertex. On your lower legs your hair grows down towards your feet etc. With hair follicles induced in hair cloning studies on rodents, the follicles can grow hair at all sorts of angles. This gives a cosmetically “scruffy” appearance.

3 - Uneven Distribution / Patchy Growth

Third, natural hair follicles are evenly distributed over the skin, but in rodent studies hair follicles induced by hair cloning do not have an even distribution over the skin – there can be clumps of hair growth. Again, the cosmetic appearance of this clumpy growth is generally unacceptable.

For hair cloning to become a practical and popular treatment, all these problems must be overcome.

For Hair Cloning to work, researchers need to be able to (1) produce a consistent number of hair follicles for a given number of injected dermal papilla cells (2) figure out how to control the angle at which the new follicles grow and (3) produce a consistent level of density over the treated area. Currently, these are the 3 main roadblocks to successful hair cloning.

New Study of Dermal Papilla & Hair Growth

Two very recent studies from academic research groups have added new information to the debate on the future of hair cloning. The first paper by Paus and colleagues in Hamburg, Germany and Bradford England, shows that the ball of cells necessary to make new follicles do not originate only in the dermal papilla. By analyzing follicles in different stages of the hair growth cycle, they found that the dermal papilla structure is filled with cells that have migrated from an adjacent structure around the hair follicle called the “dermal sheath”.

The dermal sheath is an outer sleeve of cells around the epithelial component of the hair fiber-producing part of the hair follicle. Clear as mud? :)

In other words, cells in the dermal sheath were previously thought to only play a minor role, mostly as physical support to the hair follicle. This recent study has shown that cells multiply in the lower dermal sheath and then migrate into the dermal papilla at the start of a new hair growth cycle. At the end of the hair growth cycle the cells migrate out again either back into the dermal sheath or out into the dermis.

This might be one explanation as to how androgenetic alopecia develops. If at the end of each growth cycle the dermal papilla cells migrate away from the follicle never to return, then the dermal papilla structure may get progressively smaller with each growth cycle.

How this Study relates to Hair Cloning

The size of the dermal papilla is known to directly dictate the size of the hair fiber produced. A big papilla promotes the growth of a big hair fiber. For the purposes of understanding hair cloning, the study shows that the dermal sheath plays an active role in determining the size of the dermal papilla. The dermal sheath provides the cells. The Dermal Papilla is created with these cells. The two together define the size of the hair fiber produced, and how long that hair will stay in growth phase. This is very important for hair cloning. It shows that to make big, healthy new hair follicles with hair cloning, you need to use cells from a big, healthy donor hair follicle. The cells from the donor follicle apparently retain the instructions for a big follicle and transfer this information to the new follicle in hair cloning.