Hair follicle germ cells help to recover nerve damage

Yesterday, US and Japanese scientists said hair follicle germ cells could help restore nerve damage, at least in lab rats. The results of this study have rekindled hope for patients with neurological damage.

Hair follicle germ cells help to recover nerve damage

Scientists have studied and discovered hair follicle germ cells that help mice to run after severe damage to the sciatic nerve. According to the researchers, this result also implies that follicular cells can stimulate nerve fibers to develop and restore function after being damaged, providing the opportunity to treat patients with diseases. peripheral nerves.

The team includes scientists at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, University of California, San Diego, (USA), Kitasato University (Japan).

Embryonic stem cells are known to be able to form almost all types of tissue cells that are currently controversial in many countries. Scientists also found problems such as immune system mismatch that are also related to embryonic stem cells. Therefore, many recent studies have focused on adult stem cells for future medical treatment applications. And mature germ cells are follicles that are thought to be a promising source.

In previous studies, a team of scientists at the University of California, San Diego concluded that hair follicle germ cells could develop into vascular cells and nerve cells. They suggest that these studies show the potential of follicular stem cell potential for the formation of many different cell types.

Now researchers have succeeded in proving that hair follicle germ cells can develop into Shwann cells, a type of glial cells that can cover nerve axons in the peripheral nervous system. When injected into a mouse with a non-limb-affected hip nerve, Shwann cells produced myelin around the axon, after which mice could run normally.

According to researchers, in the future, patients with neurological damage can be cured with their own hair follicles.

T.VY ( According to Xinhua )