Scientists at New York University’s Grossman School of Medicine have conducted a study that should help find a way to reverse or prevent gray hair. Study published in the journal Nature.
Scientists studied mouse skin cells that humans also have – melanocyte stem cells (McSCs). It turned out that some stem cells can move between areas of hair follicle growth, but get stuck with age and thus lose the ability to mature and retain hair color.
The study found that melanocyte stem cells are “surprisingly plastic”. During normal hair growth, hair constantly moves back and forth along the axis of maturity, passing between compartments of the developing hair follicle. It is in these compartments that McSCs are exposed to different levels of protein signals that affect maturity.
Scientists have discovered that as hair ages, falls out and regrows, more and more melanocyte stem cells get stuck in the bulge of the hair follicle. They stay there and cannot return to their original place in the compartment where the proteins would cause them to regenerate into pigment cells.
“The discovered mechanisms raise the possibility that the same fixed position of melanocyte stem cells may exist in humans,” said lead researcher Qi Song.
If so, the study results represent “a potential avenue to reverse or prevent graying of human hair,” the scientist added.
In 2021, scientists from Columbia University published study on the effect of stress on graying hair. It has shown that hair color can be restored by reducing stress levels.
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