Optimization of the reconstruction of dermal papilla like tissues employing umbilical cord mesenchymal stem cells

Alopecia is not life threatening, but patients who undergo alopecia often experience severe mental stress. In addition, the number of individuals afflicted by alopecia has been increasing steadily. The most effective treatment of alopecia developed to date is auto hair transplantation. To overcome the limitations associated with current therapies for the treatment of alopecia, many researchers have attempted to revive hair follicles by áå= îáíêç culture of hair follicle cells and subsequent implantation in the treatment area. Previously, we demonstrated that umbilical cord-derived mesenchymal stem cells (UC-MSCs) could be isolated and expanded successfully from the Wharton's Jelly. Cultureexpanded UC-MSCs formed aggregates similar to native dermal papilla (DP) in special media (DPFM) and reconstructed dermal papilla like tissues (DPLTs) could induce new hair follicles. The purpose of the present study was to optimize the reconstruction of DPLTs. As in the case of MSCs, when compared to differentiated cells, DPLTs require an additional step to induce differentiation into dermal papilla cells. However, it is necessary to use hepatocyte growth factor (HGF) in the differentiation step, which is relatively expensive. To reduce the expenses associated with cell therapy using MSCs, it is necessary to optimize this differentiation step. To accomplish this, we evaluated the effects of cell inoculation density and growth factors during differentiation.