日本橫濱國際大學研究發現，麥當勞薯條裡頭的添加物「二甲基聚矽氧烷（Dimethylpolysiloxane，簡稱DMPS）」可以讓幹細胞成功地大量製造毛囊胚胎（hair follicle germs，HFG），或者幫助毛囊幹細胞萌發頭髮。聽到這個令人振奮的消息，全世界的禿頭族都興奮的站起來了！
二甲基聚矽氧烷是一種常見的化學用「矽膠」，若添加在食物裡是作為消泡劑使用，而麥當勞薯條裡也有加入這個成分，目的是為了防止在炸熟過程中讓食用油起泡飛濺。
不過，麥當勞每個地區的產品配方都有差異，與美國和日本不同，台灣麥當勞的薯條裡，是沒有添加二甲基聚矽氧烷的！
Hair follicle morphogenesis is triggered by reciprocal interactions between hair follicle germ (HFG) epithelial and mesenchymal layers. Here, we developed a method for large-scale preparation of HFGs in vitro via self-organization of cells. We mixed mouse epidermal and mouse/human mesenchymal cells in suspension and seeded them in microwells of a custom-designed array plate. Over a 3-day culture period, cells initially formed a randomly distributed single cell aggregate and then spatially separated from each other, exhibiting typical HFG morphological features. These self-sorted hair follicle germs (ssHFGs) were shown to be capable of efficient hair-follicle and shaft generation upon intracutaneous transplantation into the backs of nude mice. This finding facilitated the large-scale preparation of approximately 5000 ssHFGs in a microwell-array chip made of oxygen-permeable silicone. We demonstrated that the integrity of the oxygen supply through the bottom of the silicone chip was crucial to enabling both ssHFG formation and subsequent hair shaft generation. Finally, spatially aligned ssHFGs on the chip were encapsulated into a hydrogel and simultaneously transplanted into the back skin of nude mice to preserve their intervening spaces, resulting in spatially aligned hair follicle generation. This simple ssHFG preparation approach is a promising strategy for improving current hair-regenerative medicine techniques.
小編評：當除美國麥當勞薯條含有二甲基聚矽氧烷（矽樹脂）可是被罵到臭頭（見下方連結），結果日本這篇新聞反而把它捧成禿頭救星啦～