A new solution made up of stem cells from fat could regrow hair for bald people, new research has revealed.
The topical solution leads to the regrowth of hair for people with a common type of baldness, it was discovered.
Androgenetic alopecia - commonly known as male-pattern baldness and female-pattern baldness in women - is a condition caused by genetic, hormonal and environmental factors.
It affects an estimated 50 per cent of all men and almost as many women older than 50.
While it is not a life-threatening condition, male-pattern baldness can lower a person's self-esteem and psychological well-being.
There are a few FDA-approved medications in the US to treat hair loss, but the most effective can have side effects such as loss of libido and erectile dysfunction.
Therefore, the search by researchers has continued for a safer, effective treatment.
The discovery was made when scientists found adipose tissue-derived stem cells from fat and connective tissue secrete several growth hormones that help cells develop and proliferate.
According to laboratory and experimental studies, growth factors such as hepatocyte growth factor, vascular endothelial growth factor, insulin-like growth factor and platelet-derived growth factor increase the size of the hair follicle during hair development.
Professor Sang Yeoup Lee of the Family Medicine Clinic and Research Institute of Convergence of Biomedical Science and Technology, Pusan National University Yangsan Hospital in South Korea led the group of researchers.
He said: "Recent studies have shown that ADSCs promote hair growth in both men and women with alopecia.
"However, no randomised, placebo-controlled trial in humans has explored the effects and safety of adipose-derived stem cell constituent extract (ADSC-CE) in AGA.
"We aimed to assess the efficacy and tolerability of ADSC-CE in middle-aged patients with AGA in our study, hypothesising that it is an effective and safe treatment agent."
The team recruited 38 patients - 29 men and nine women - with this common baldness and assigned half to an intervention group that received the ADSC-CE topical solution and half as a control group that received a placebo.
Twice daily, each patient applied the ADSC-CE topical solution or placebo to their scalp using their fingers.
The study's senior author, Young Jin Tak said: "At the end of 16 weeks, the group that received the ADSC-CEs had a significant increase in both hair count and follicle diameter."
Dr Lee added: "Our findings suggest that the application of the ADSC-CE topical solution has enormous potential as an alternative therapeutic strategy for hair regrowth in patients with AGA, by increasing both hair density and thickness while maintaining adequate treatment safety.
"The next step should be to conduct similar studies with large and diverse populations in order to confirm the beneficial effects of ADSC-CE on hair growth and elucidate the mechanisms responsible for the action of ADSC-CE in humans."
Anthony Atala, editor-in-chief of STEM CELLS translational medicine and director of the Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine, said: "For the millions of people who suffer from male-pattern baldness, this small clinical trial offers hope of a future treatment for hair regrowth.
"The topical solution created from proteins secreted by stem cells found in fat tissue proves to be both safe and effective. We look forward to further findings that support this work."
The full article on the research will be published in Stem Cells Journals.
