don't see on today's market.

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From Science Digest - March 1985

Restoring Hair at the Follicle

Life, as John F. Kennedy once said isn't fair. Consider baldness. Not the

most terrible thing that can happen to a man, but, still, a blow to the self-

image.

Despite lotions, rugs of various weaves and hair transplants, medical science

hasn't come up with a cure - yet. But researchers at the University of

Dundee, Scotland, have taken a major step in a promising direction.

The background. Certain skin cells called DERMAL PAPILLAE, which sit at the

base of hair follicles, control hair growth. If the papillae are removed,

growth stops. If they are put back, it RESUMES. Papillae can even induce the

formation of brand-new, healthy hair follicles.

Colin Jahoda, Kenneth Home and Roy Oliver report in NATURE that they cultured

rat papillae in test tubes, getting them to reproduce IN QUANTITY. The new

cells were as good at recharging barren follicles in rat skin as the originals

were.

Human papillae can also be cultured, and if they do as well as hair

regeneration as those of the rats do, it will be possible to study why human

follicles lose their potency. More to the point, papillae transplants may

turn out to be the key to that long-sought baldness cure.