Cure to baldness found

[White Israelite]

Granted i'm not bald and all my family has full heads of hair but this could definitely help a lot of people who are in danger of losing their hair or already have lost theirs.


Activating dormant stem cells in the scalp could be the key to banishing baldness, scientists have said.

Researchers made the discovery after examining tissue samples from men undergoing hair transplants.

Comparing follicles from bald and hairy scalp patches, they found that both contained the same number of stem cells.

But more mature cells called progenitor cells were lacking in the bald areas.

Stem cells in the scalp normally develop into progenitor cells, which in turn give rise to new hair growth.

But those from the bald patches appeared to have become dormant.

The research suggests that male pattern baldness may arise from a problem with follicle stem cell activation rather than too few stem cells.

"The fact that there are normal numbers of stem cells in bald scalp gives us hope for reactivating those stem cells," said study leader Dr George Cotsarelis, from the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, US.

The researchers, whose findings appear in the Journal of Clinical Investigation, say the next step will be to study stem and progenitor cell populations in other types of hair loss. They will also investigate ways of helping stem cells convert to progenitor cells.

Cell-based treatments for male-pattern baldness could involve isolating and growing active stem cells before planting them back into the scalp. In 2007, the same team found that hair follicles in adult mice regenerate by re-awakening genes usually only active in developing embryos.

http://uk.news.yahoo.com/21/20110104/thl-stem-cells-clue-to-beating-baldness-d831572.html

[Lewinsky Stinks, Dr. Brennan Rocks]

That's really fascinating stuff.

[Lisa]

I would love to regrow some more hair on my head. 

[muman613]

I am very relieved that there is absolutely no baldness in either my mothers nor my fathers family. I have very abundant hair and thank Hashem for this...

[Rubystars]

I thought baldness was linked to higher testosterone, so I wonder how that affects these stem cells.

[Lewinsky Stinks, Dr. Brennan Rocks]

I thought baldness was linked to higher testosterone, so I wonder how that affects these stem cells.

It's not pure testosterone, it's dihydrotestosterone, which is a testosterone byproduct or waste product if not mistaken.

[White Israelite]

Thyroid conditions can also cause this to occur. I've noticed Mediterranean populations tend to bald at a higher rate than other European countries, primarily the horseshoe style baldness. Kind of rare to find bald North Africans, Asians or Mexicans though

[Rubystars]

Thyroid conditions can also cause this to occur. I've noticed Mediterranean populations tend to bald at a higher rate than other European countries, primarily the horseshoe style baldness. Kind of rare to find bald North Africans, Asians or Mexicans though

I've never thought of it that way before but when I think of an old Greek or Italian man I do tend to think of them having that kind of baldness.

I thought baldness was linked to higher testosterone, so I wonder how that affects these stem cells.

It's not pure testosterone, it's dihydrotestosterone, which is a testosterone byproduct or waste product if not mistaken.

Oh ok thanks. I didn't know much about it.

[Lewinsky Stinks, Dr. Brennan Rocks]

Baldness and belly fat often seem to be linked in middle-aged men, something about their testosterone breaking down seems to be causative for both.

[White Israelite]

Japanese tend to bald at a higher rate than other Asian countries and a lot of that was associated with a diet change, but ironically they are not the only Asian country to suffer from baldness, India also has high rates of baldness and not so sure thats diet related. Other Asian countries don't seem to have the same problem.

[Lewinsky Stinks, Dr. Brennan Rocks]

Never really thought about it but I think you're right.