TLDR Researchers found a way to make rat hair follicle cells start turning into motor neuron-like cells, but couldn't fully turn them into working motor neurons.
The study investigated the potential of hair follicle neural crest stem cells (hfNCSCs) to differentiate into Olig2 positive motor neuron progenitors (MNPs) in rats. The researchers used a combination of 5 small molecules to induce hfNCSCs, which were harvested from the bulge area of hair follicles of male Sprague-Dawley rats. The induced cells displayed characteristics of neural stem cells and showed promising viability and morphology. The findings suggested that hfNCSCs could serve as a new cell source for motor neuron disease (MND) treatment, offering a potential alternative to autologous motor neurons, which are limited by their unrenewable nature.
7 citations
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January 2016 in “Methods in molecular biology” Neurons from hair follicles can help repair damaged nerves.
36 citations
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September 2009 in “Molecular Neurobiology” 344 citations
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June 2006 in “American Journal Of Pathology” Human hair follicles can provide stem cells for regenerative medicine.
319 citations
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November 2005 in “Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences” Hair follicle stem cells can help repair damaged nerves.
419 citations
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March 2005 in “Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences” Hair-follicle stem cells can become neurons.
1010 citations
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August 2000 in “Cell” Hair follicle stem cells can form both hair follicles and skin.
February 2025 in “FASEB BioAdvances” Verteporfin reduces growth and stem cell traits in rat hair follicle cells by blocking the Hippo pathway.
7 citations
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January 2016 in “Methods in molecular biology” Neurons from hair follicles can help repair damaged nerves.
miR-214-3p helps nerve repair and recovery.
miR-214-3p helps nerve repair and recovery.
3 citations
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August 2014 in “Cellular reprogramming” Hair follicle stem cells need all reprogramming factors to become pluripotent.
