Dr Rei Ogawa: Mechanotherapy for a New Era in Medicine and Possibility of Hair Regenration

Presented at 8th World Congress for Hair Research (2014) Jeju Island, South Korea. Summary: It has long been thought that the effectiveness and efficacy of physical therapy would improve if our understanding of cell biology/biochemistry that participates in mechanics could be improved. Traditional physical therapy focuses primarily on rehabilitation, but recent developments in mechanobiology that illuminated the effects of physical forces on cells and tissues have led to the realization that the old therapy model should be updated. To achieve this here, the term mechanotherapy is proposed and recent studies showing how mechanotherapies target particular cells, molecules, and tissues are reviewed. These studies show how mechanical force modulates integrin-mediated processes and other mechanosensors such as gap junctions, hemichannels, primary cilia,transient receptor potential channels (cell targeting), and intracellular mechanosignalling pathways (molecule targeting). Especially, the role of mechanical force for hair growth and regeneration is reviewed. Specifically, we report our experiments using hair dermal papilla cells (HDPCs) and the theories that postulate how mechanical force exhibits effects on hair growth. We also summarise the recent advances in our understanding of molecular signalling pathways of mechanotransduction. A better understanding of hair growth and regeneration will facilitate research into this promising field and could lead to the development of applications that improve hair structure and function.