Japanese scientists may have found a crucial missing piece in the hair loss puzzle. It seems as if the prayers of people suffering from hair loss have finally been answered.
Scientists at Japan’s RIKEN Institute and Tokyo-based OrganTech have discovered a previously unknown “third cell” that can completely rebuild hair follicles, potentially paving the way toward regenerative treatments for baldness and thinning hair. The results were published in the journal Biochemical and Biophysical Research Communications.
Goodbye to baldness
About 80% of men and 50% of women suffer from pattern hair loss at some point in their lives. For many, hair loss can be a very personal and distressing concern.
It may affect confidence and self-image. From hair oils to hair transplants, there are countless treatments available; However, most focus on slowing hair loss, not reversing it. In this breakthrough study, researchers may have identified a “third cell” that works in conjunction with two previously identified cellular components to complete the biological machinery necessary for hair growth and loss in a normal cycle.
The researchers succeeded in recreating the complete hair growth cycle in mice by adding the newly identified cell type to two already known components of hair follicles, the small organs in the skin that produce hair. This new finding suggests a way forward.
The third cell
The study was led by Takashi Tsuji, a visiting senior researcher at RIKEN and president of OrganTech. He and his team have spent nearly two decades developing techniques to regenerate organs from adult stem cells.
Hair grows in a natural cycle, which includes phases such as anagen (growth), catagen (transition), telogen (resting) and telogen (shedding). While scientists have already succeeded in producing hair follicle precursors from two types of cells in laboratory conditions, they have not been able to sustain the full cycle of hair loss and hair regrowth ex vivo — at least until 2012.
That year, researchers combined epithelial stem cells and dermal papilla cells extracted from the hairs of adult mice to create the basis of hair follicles.
When these follicles are transplanted, the cells can stimulate the growth of new hair. However, something remained incomplete in the system.In those experiments, after being transplanted into living tissue, additional cells migrated from surrounding tissue into precursors of follicles grown in the laboratory. This indicates that the transplanted structures cannot function as complete, independent hair follicles without external cellular support.
That’s when researchers realized there was a missing ingredient, something the body naturally supplies but had not yet been isolated or characterized.Then the researchers began working to identify this missing piece. The team applied specialized cell isolation techniques to identify peribulbar mesenchymal (ABM) cells, a type of cell found in tissue close to hair follicles. When they were combined with two previously known cell types, epithelial stem cells and dermal papillary cells, and transplanted into engineered skin, all three cell types worked together.
They found that together these three cells could reproduce the complete hair cycle in a laboratory setting. This involved repeated phases of growth and replacement. The experiments were successful in mice, a standard model organism for testing regenerative methods.
The researchers noted that the newly identified cells are instrumental in stimulating the transition from a resting state to a growth phase. It also promotes the elongation of the follicle itself.
The research revealed something unexpected about the mechanisms of hair growth.When hair extends upwards through the skin, the follicle itself does not simply push the shaft out. Instead, the hair follicle, which forms the base of the follicle, gradually moves downward toward the subcutaneous fat layer beneath the skin. This “undergrowth” phenomenon occurs when cells supporting regeneration differentiate around the follicle and push downward extension of the tubular structure of the follicle.Understanding this movement provides crucial insight into a biological process that has not been clearly documented before. Hair doesn’t just grow with a simple upward force; The follicle itself migrates deeper into the skin layers as the visible hair shaft rises.Current treatments for hair loss and thinning work on a different principle. Most medications and interventions currently available focus on slowing the progression of hair loss rather than regenerating lost follicles.
They work within the body’s existing system rather than introducing new cellular material to rebuild damaged structures. According to the researchers, harvesting regenerative-supporting cells from patients, expanding them in culture and reintroducing them to damaged areas could form the basis of a new treatment.“This work defines the cellular composition essential for the functional regeneration of hair follicles,” said Yoshio Shimo, CEO of OrganTech. “Beyond hair biology, it advances our broader strategy for regenerative medicine at the organ level, where precisely coordinated epithelial and mesenchymal interactions enable stable and functional tissue reconstruction.”