Category Archives: Dermal Sheath Cup Cells

Yet Another Replicel Interview

This one with Lee Buckler, the vice president of business and corporate development for RepliCel.  Few more details on the company’s pending phase II trials, including frequency of injections:

How RepliCel Is Harnessing the Awesome Power of Cell Therapy

Great often missed point:

With a cell transplant, there is no limit to the number of cells we can grow to use in regenerating poorly functioning hair follicles.

I disagree with Lee’s statement that:

Second, hair transplantation only achieves a satisfactory result when performed by a gifted surgeon, of which there are few.

In my opinion, there are at least several hundred great hair transplant surgeons in the world today, and the ARTAS robot is enabling  numerous strip surgeons to become “gifted” when it comes to FUE.  I think in most cases, satisfaction is more closely related to expectations rather than surgeons these days.  A Norwood 5 will not be happy if he expects a Norwood 1 type final result after a hair transplant. Because strip hair transplant surgery is becoming obsolete, scarring and nerve damage are also no longer as big an issue (albeit still possible) with FUE hair transplants.

Another major reason for hair transplant patient dissatisfaction is that the existing hair in the transplanted area will continue to die, even when taking Finasteride for many people.  So in essence, the result immediately post transplant will only continue to slowly worsen in most hair transplant patients.  And in the long run, even the “permanent” transplanted hair is not always permanent, as can be seen in many older people’s totally denuded or sparse donor regions.  In fact even in my 30s, my supposedly “permanent” donor hair at the back of my scalp is significantly less dense than in was in my 20s.

Shiseido News

My post on Shiseido’s Phase 3 clinical trials for hair loss has the latest updates as of 2024. The company’s technology entails culturing dermal sheath cup cells (DSCs).

Also check out the Japanese company’s very popular Adensoine based Shiseido Adenovital shampoo.

Shiseido Logo

Shiseido Cell Processing Facility
Shiseido’s Updated World Map. Kobe Cell Processing and Expansion Facility.

Shiseido Hair Regeneration

The company has two pages on its site in related to hair regeneration:

  1. Hair regenerative medicine.
  2. New research areas.

Shiseido collaborates with University Hospitals (Japan) on a clinical study in regards to hair regenerative medicine technology in Japan. The company also used Replicel (Canada)’s technology via a licensing agreement pertaining to the Asia/Pacific region.

This technology entails culturing dermal sheath cup cells (DSCs). These represent the source of hair dermal papilla cells, which play a critical role in the growth of scalp hair.

For a patient with hair loss (male of female pattern baldness), these DSCs are implanted via injection into the balding scalp skin. The cells then rejuvenate damaged hair follicles and promote the growth of healthy hair.

Make sure to also read my 2014 post on Shiseido’s at-the-time new research facility in the Kobe Biomedical Innovation Cluster (KBIC). This location is also home to RIKEN’s hair research center.