http://www.clinicacfs.com/stem-cell-transfer-celulas-madre/
we can expect something really good this new technique?
At a glance it looks like a standard beard hair transplant + a liberal application of stem cell weasel words mixed in.
As you can see the author says:
REPETIMOS: TODO ESTO ES TEÓRICO – “We repeat, this is all theoretical” … and then goes on to say how it hasn’t been tested very much.
If you read the whole thing it sounds a lot like Dr. Gho’s HST – “Hair Stemcell Transplant” – which involves something like a micro-dissection of donor follicles to remove a portion of the area where the stem cells are, and then re-implanting these cells into the balding area in the hopes that the “healthy” (non-MPB) stem cells will trigger regrowth in the recipient area.
They are comparing it to a kind of microscopic hair transplant, and use the term “Cell Groups” as an analog to “Follicular Unit”, something like an FU but much smaller, encompassing not an entire follicle but just a small portion of its cells.
However, there’s not much in there about how these cells may be cultured or multiplied, and what the donor-to-recipient area yield ratios would be. In other words, is it just a 1:1 ratio – one follicle dissected to obtain one “Cell Group” leading to one recipient follicle revived or new follicle grown?
If it’s just a 1:1 yield, or slightly higher, I don’t think this idea is that great… Didn’t seem to work well enough for Dr. Gho (at least, we haven’t seen any spectacular evidence from him)… so I don’t see why it would work well for these Spanish doctors, especially when they are admitting themselves that this is all still “theoretical” and they’re still testing it.
This made me think about Dr. Gho’s HST taken to the next level (i.e., transplanting only the cells that trigger hair growth as opposed to the cells still attached to a split hair), although it doesn’t explain the extraction process.
The author describes these cell groups as “mother cells” which were already genetically programmed to trigger between one and four hairs per follicle in the donor region, and are expected to do the same when re-implanted into the recipient area. The author claims that once inserted into the receptor area, the new hair will appear to grow natural.
He cautions that once the mother cells are extracted from the donor region, it is possible that the hair to which they correspond will fall out, but they will regrow within 3 to 5 months.
The author indicates things are going very well. The “fotografías del primer implante capilar con celulas madre” are supposedly pictures of an individual upon whom they’ve already preliminarily tested this procedure with apparent success. http://www.clinicacfs.com/fotografias-del-primer-implante-capilar-celulas-madre/ Looks like they are going to proceed with additional testing between December and January, and they will provide photographs of the results.
The text claims the procedure could theoretically work on individuals with significant baldness (Norwood 5), although the author does not know whether the donor region will be limitless.
Like RT said–the author goes to great lengths to caution that this is all theoretical science at the moment.