(File Photo)

BEIJING, May 17 (Xinhuanet) -- Baldness could soon be a thing of the past, according to a finding published in Thursday's issue of Nature, offering hope for a baldness remedy for humans.

    Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine have found that mice with deep skin wounds can grow new hair.

    "We showed that wound healing triggered an embryonic state in the skin which made it receptive to receiving instructions from wnt proteins," said senior author George Cotsarelis, MD, Associate Professor of Dermatology. "The wnts are a network of proteins implicated in hair-follicle development."

    Researchers previously believed that adult mammal skin could not regenerate hair follicles. In fact, they believed that mammals had essentially no true regenerative qualities. They said the liver can regenerate large portions, but it is not de novo regeneration; some of the original liver has to remain so that it can regenerate.

    In this study, researchers found that wound healing in a mouse model created an "embryonic window" of opportunity. Dormant embryonic molecular pathways were awakened, sending stem cells to the area of injury. Unexpectedly, the regenerated hair follicles originated from non-hair-follicle stem cells.

    "We've found that we can influence wound healing with wnts or other proteins that allow the skin to heal in a way that has less scarring and includes all the normal structures of the skin, such as hair follicles and oil glands, rather than just a scar," explained Cotsarelis.

    (Agencies)