New Hope for Men: Bald No More!
All you bald (and -ing) guys out there, now there's hope! A new study has found that activating molecular messengers, or a pathway between cells, can prompt hair growth of dormant hair follicles, or blocked to prevent growth of unwanted hair, according to newswise.com.
When cell wiring between these molecular cells was disrupted by an inhibitor,scientists found that hair growth was prevented. But when the inhibitor was removed, newswise.com reports, the pathway resumed normal function, the stem cells (which were still maintained even when the hair growth was dormant), were activated, and hair growth was restored.
The team also unexpectedly found that the pathway is normally active in non-hairy regions, "such as on the palms of hands, soles of feet and the tongue, as well as between hair follicles on the surface of the skin." This finding is consistent with previous results showing that removing the inhibitor prevents growth of skin tumors, the Web site notes.
"While more research is needed to improve our understanding of this pathway, our results suggest that therapeutics capable of decreasing levels of (the molecular) signaling in the skin could potentially be used to block growth of unwanted hair, and/or to treat certain skin tumors. Conversely, if delivered in a limited, safe and controlled way, agents that activate this signaling might be used to promote hair growth in dormant hair follicles in conditions such as male pattern baldness,” newswise.com quotes senior author Sarah Millar, PhD, professor in the departments of Dermatology and of Cell and Developmental Biology.
So will all bald men be able to shake their thick luxurious full heads of hair anytime soon? Not yet, researchers say. But it's certainly something that's a real possibility.
When cell wiring between these molecular cells was disrupted by an inhibitor,scientists found that hair growth was prevented. But when the inhibitor was removed, newswise.com reports, the pathway resumed normal function, the stem cells (which were still maintained even when the hair growth was dormant), were activated, and hair growth was restored.
The team also unexpectedly found that the pathway is normally active in non-hairy regions, "such as on the palms of hands, soles of feet and the tongue, as well as between hair follicles on the surface of the skin." This finding is consistent with previous results showing that removing the inhibitor prevents growth of skin tumors, the Web site notes.
"While more research is needed to improve our understanding of this pathway, our results suggest that therapeutics capable of decreasing levels of (the molecular) signaling in the skin could potentially be used to block growth of unwanted hair, and/or to treat certain skin tumors. Conversely, if delivered in a limited, safe and controlled way, agents that activate this signaling might be used to promote hair growth in dormant hair follicles in conditions such as male pattern baldness,” newswise.com quotes senior author Sarah Millar, PhD, professor in the departments of Dermatology and of Cell and Developmental Biology.
So will all bald men be able to shake their thick luxurious full heads of hair anytime soon? Not yet, researchers say. But it's certainly something that's a real possibility.
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