Scientists Manage To Grow Skin With Hair Follicles and Sweat Glands In Lab

Researchers have managed to grow a complex skin tissue with hair follicles and sweat glands. In a lab in Japan, these researchers were able to implant the tissue into living mice, and found that it had the ability to connect with the animals' nerves and muscle fibers, making way for better skin transplants in the future.

We Can Now Grow Skin Complete with Hair Follicles, Glands, and Nerves - https://t.co/l8F180YYqT pic.twitter.com/W0C1X9lYhe @futurism

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Discovery News said that findings from these studies could one day help scientists make better skin transplants for burn victims and patients with skin diseases. Prior to the study, researchers have already developed a more basic skin substitute that has been successful with human patients before.

Takashi Tsuji, the team leader at RIKEN Center for Developmental Biology, said that the skin had only one or two layers of tissue and did not have features like hair follicles or sweat glands or sebum. The new skin, on the other hand, not only had those necessary features; it was also made with chemical that transformed the cells into those similar to stem cells. With the use of these cells, scientists were able to generate three-layered skin tissue, complete with hair follicles and even glands that manage to produce sebum, into the mice.

When the tissue was transplanted, researchers found that it can make normal connections to its surrounding nerves and muscle tissues, which allowed for the skin to function normally. What's even better is that the mice's immune systems did not reject the transplanted skin. Researchers did note, however, that to generate this kind of tissue and use them in people, they would have to do the process all over again using human cells.

This significant step in skin bioengineering does more than just treat skin. Medical News Today cited Dr. Tsuji saying that this method could also be used as an alternative to animal testing. Researchers are also trying to regenerate other organs associated with the skin, such as teeth and salivary glands, but for now, they will still have to figure out how to be as successful in turning human cells into the same skin cells they made from mice.