Scientists have discovered that sweat glands could regenerate tissues as well as treat sweating disorders, Futurity reported.
Researchers at the University of Southern California discovered that over time, some of the sweat gland cells they were examining under UV light did not divide or divided slowly, a characteristic among stem cells or certain tissues.
In the study, scientists turned sweat gland cells fluorescent green. The color becomes dimmer as it is diluted among dividing sweat gland cells. After four weeks, the
Futurity reported that after four weeks "the only cells that remained fluorescent were the ones that did not divide or divided very slowly." This is a known property among stem cells of certain tissues, including the hair follicle and cornea.
Scientists concluded that the fluorescent cells in the sweat glands "coiled lower region" were likely stem cells.
Yvonne Leung, University of Southern California graduate student, then tested whether the fluorescent cells could differentiate into multiple cell types.
Futurity reported that the cells not only generated sweat glands, but they also generated hair follicles when placed in the skin of a mouse.
"That was a big surprise for us that those very quiescent sweat gland stem cells maintain multilineage plasticity-participating not only in their own regeneration, but also in the regeneration of hair follicles and skin after injury," Krzysztof Kobielak, assistant professor of pathology at USC, said in a statement.
The scientists also determined that the sweat gland stem cells could heal skin wounds and regenerate all layers of the epidermis under certain conditions.
According to the researchers, this open doors for developing future stem cell-based treatments for skin and sweat-gland related conditions such as excessive or insufficient sweating.
These findings could also lay the foundation for creating fully functional skin - containing both sweat glands and hair follicles - for burn victims.
