Patent ID: 8841124

Claim:
A method for producing de novo papillae comprising the steps of: (a) providing at least one dermal papilla (DP) from at least one mammal hair follicle, (b) isolating dermal hair papilla fibroblasts (DPFs) from the DP by mechanically fixing said DP at the surface of a cell culture vessel, whereby the basal lamina is perforated to allow said DPFs migrating out, (c) expanding the isolated DPFs in monolayer culture without collagen coating, wherein said DPFs are passaged at least once, (d) condensing the expanded DPFs into cell aggregates that exhibit the size and shape of the physiological DP in a non-adhesive culture vessel; (e) differentiating the cell aggregates produced in (d) in non-adhesive culture vessels in a cell concentration per vessel surface of 1,000 to 100,000 DPFs/cm 2 , and (f) coating the cell aggregates produced in (e) with extracellular matrix proteins, thereby producing de novo papillae.