Plucking scientists get to root of problem
It sounds like something from a science fiction novel: Pluck a few of someone’s hairs, and four to six weeks later they have grown into a piece of skin - But that is what a group of German scientists claim to have done.
It sounds like something from a science fiction novel: Pluck a few of someone’s hairs, and four to six weeks later they have grown into a piece of skin - But that is what a group of German scientists claim to have done.
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| Stem cells can extracted from hair roots and then differentiated into skin cells |
In this way, the researchers can grow numerous small pieces of skin, produced individually for each patient, which add up to a surface area of 10 – 100cm2 when pieced together. The researchers expect to grow skin grafts for 10 to 20 patients a month in 2008, depending on how many doctors prescribe this therapy.
At present, chronic wounds are treated by grafting on the patients’ own skin, which is normally taken from the thigh. This leaves scars on both the thigh and the treated wound. “If we produce this skin using the recently approved EpiDex technique instead, we can achieve the same chances of recovery without hurting the patient. Moreover, the artificial skin grows onto the wound without scarring,” said Dr. Andreas Emmendörffer, managing director of euroderm GmbH.
