It’s good news for bald men and women, as Japanese researchers have successfully grown hair on bald mice, sparking new hopes of a cure for male pattern baldness.

Lead study author Takashi Tsuji from Tokyo University of Science with colleagues nurtured two different kinds of mice hair follicles and transplanted them on mice. Three weeks later, researchers found 74% of the hair follicles had grown into black hair.

During the study, researchers saw two types of skin stem cell, both of which contained all the instructions for hair. The research team injected acetylcholine, a drug used that causes muscles contraction, in the region of skin with the bioengineered follicles. After a few days hair began to grow, indicating that transplanted follicles have integrated with surrounding muscles and nerves, like regular hair follicles.

Although the research was conducted on a rodent, it means that humans can expect a potential treatment for baldness. Researchers of the study, which was published in Nature Communications, were also able to change the density and colour of hair.

"Our study provides a substantial contribution to the development of bioengineering technologies that will enable future regenerative therapy for hair loss caused by injury or by diseases such as alopecia and androgenic alopecia," researchers wrote in the study.

Hopeful about the research, lead scientists Takahi Tsuji said that these bioengineered hair follicles are very successful in connecting naturally with surrounding tissue, adding that if it works for mice, humans can also expect a treatment soon.