the slurry was then cast onto a flat surface and air dried to produce a cross linked sheet the resulting sheet was purified by immersion in boiling water which removed soluble reagents the use of keratin containing materials in promoting wound healing was demonstrated in several experiments in a first experiment processed human hair was incubated with cell culture media the media hair mixture was passed through a micro filter cell lines relevant to wound healing including human microvascular endothelial cells keratinocytes and fibroblasts were placed in culture using this media extract significant proliferation of these wound healing cells was measured keratinocytes proliferated profusely fibroblasts proliferated modestly and endothelial cells proliferated profusely the mitogenic activity observed in fibroblast keratinocyte and endothelial cell cultures is additional evidence that the keratinous protein material is not only biocompatible but also mitogenic with these cell lines additional biocompatibility was observed when keratin microfibrils were observed microscopically to be in direct contact with cells in the cell cultures specifically keratinocytes and fibroblasts were observed to adhere to and congregate around microfibrils indicating that desirous cell activity can be sustained on this naturally derived biopolymer matrix in a second experiment processed human hair powder was incubated with cell culture media the media keratin mixture was passed through a micro filter this media extract was used in proliferation studies with lymphocytes the lymphocyte cell line did not proliferate indicating the material to be non immunogenic in a third experiment processed human hair.