Currently there are two avenues of research known as hair cloning. One is based on a division technique of the hair follicle, more properly called hair multiplication. The other, which might actually be called cloning involves laboratory cell cultivation.
Surgical cloning by division or multiplication hair follicle implies the extraction of the traditional techniques of capillary surgery and its subsequent division into 2 parts. With this technique, it is possible to generate double follicles in relation to what was extracted in hair transplant surgery, for each follicle would give rise to two others.
For capillary proliferation be viable it is necessary that both parts of the divided contained follicle stem cells capable of producing capillary fiber.
This would only be possible if the follicle was cut exactly in the lower third.
This technique has several details that compromise their achievement. Besides the difficulty of the required accuracy, it is known that by dividing the amount of hair follicle dermal papilla cells would probably be reduced, which would make the hairs generated by the divided clones were thinner than the hairs produced by hair follicles intact.
Cloning a laboratory cell cultivation involves the extraction of the follicle by traditional surgical techniques capillary, separation and culture of the same components in the laboratory, for subsequent injection of germ cells in the scalp.
This technique is under development and still has some hurdles to overcome.
Unlike hair transplant, with which it is possible to determine accurately the direction and sense of growth of transplanted hair, with cell implant there is no guarantee that the hair will grow in the right direction, or that possess the color and thickness appropriate.
Another technical problem for the cloned cell transplantation is that when these cells multiply in culture, can act as fibroblasts (skin cells) instead of cabelos. Besides that, there may be security issues with transplanting the cloned cells, since they can also grow and differentiate in a disorganized manner in tumors, although this possibility is remote.
In recent years, there have been many advances however, cloning remains a major challenge for researchers. Once the above obstacles are overcome, there will still be other requirements for approval before using this therapy is achieved.
