autologous hair follicle outer-root-sheath melanocytes

Autologous hair follicle outer-root-sheath melanocytes (ORS-MCs) is a cell therapy approach for the treatment of stable vitiligo. The procedure involves extracting hair follicles (usually from the scalp), isolating the melanocytes and melanocyte stem cells located in the outer root sheath, and preparing a non-cultured cell suspension. This suspension is then transplanted onto the recipient vitiligo skin, which has typically been prepared via dermabrasion or laser ablation. The transplanted cells, often stimulated by subsequent UVB phototherapy, proliferate and migrate to repigment the depigmented patches. This method leverages the hair follicle as a rich reservoir of melanocytes that are often spared in vitiligo, providing an alternative to traditional epidermal cell suspensions that require larger donor skin grafts.

Other names

non-cultured autologous hair follicle outer-root-sheath melanocytes suspensionautologous hair follicle melanocytes transplantationouter-root-sheath melanocytes