WebMD Medical News Brunilda Nazario, MD May 16, 2007 -- It may
be possible to grow new hair follicles, according to scientists
studying mice. The scientists -- who included George Cotsarelis,
MD, associate professor of dermatology at the University of
Pennsylvania -- report their findings in They noticed that in
lab tests, adult mice grew new hair follicles in skin healing
from wounds. Cotsarelis and colleagues found that the mice's
wound-healing process involved the release of proteins called
wnts. Those proteins made mature skin cells that don't normally
make hair during wound healing behave like embryonic skin cells,
giving rise to new hair "We showed that wound healing triggered
an embryonic state in the skin which made it receptive to
receiving instructions from wnt proteins," Cotsarelis says in a
University of Pennsylvania news release. The researchers note
that the wound-healing process may be a window of opportunity
for mammals to generate new hair follicles via wnt proteins. If
so, that process might