Grab your dad because scientists think they've found a cure for baldness

Grab your dad because scientists think they've found a cure for baldness

BY OLIVIA HAYES / SOURCE: her.ie 

This sounds promising! (Source: pinterest.com)

He'll be only delighted.

No doubt you know a few men with bald heads.

More than 50 percent of guys will experience some form of baldness in their lifetimes, and most of them are not too happy about it.

Of course, there are men that are content being bald, but for many others, balding can be either be due to illness, aging or genetics.


Source: pinterest.com

But tell you men to fear not ladies, because scientists have apparently found a cure for going bald.

According to Indy100, researchers at the University of California have conducted a study which see them able to grow hair on mice.

The scientists increased the production of lactate in their hair cells, meaning the hair follicles that were previously redundant, started to grow again.

They further tested it out by having one mouse with increased lactate and one mouse without any.



Source: pinterest.com

The one without any lactate didn't grow any new hair at all, while the one with lactate saw a major increase.

William Lowry, an author on the study, said: "Before this, no one knew that increasing or decreasing the lactate would have an effect on hair follicle stem cells.

"Once we saw how altering lactate production in the mice influenced hair growth, it led us to look for potential drugs that could be applied to the skin and have the same effect."

It's only a matter of time!

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This New, Cutting-Edge Treatment Could Be the End of Baldness

This New, Cutting-Edge Treatment Could Be the End of Baldness

When hair goes, there's usually no getting it back. In a boon to receding hairlines everywhere, science has discovered a way to "wake up" hair follicles.

BY CLAIRE GILLESPIE
Source: rd.com


DOCENT/SHUTTERSTOCK

Whether or not there’s a scientific benefit to being bald—we’ll let the follically challenged among us be the judge of that—scientists continue to search for a balding cure. According to UCLA researchers, that isn’t completely out of the question. A team, led by Heather Christofk, PhD, and William Lowry, PhD, found a new way to activate the stem cells in the hair follicle to make hair grow. Their findings, published in the journal Nature Cell Biology, may lead to new drugs to promote hair growth or work as a cure for baldness or alopecia (hair loss linked to factors like hormonal imbalance, stress, aging or chemotherapy).

Working at the Eli and Edythe Broad Center of Regenerative Medicine and Stem Cell Research at UCLA, the researchers discovered that the metabolism of the stem cells embedded in hair follicles is different from the metabolism of other cells of the skin. When they altered that metabolic pathway in mice, they discovered they could either stop hair growth, or make hair grow rapidly. They did this by first blocking, then increasing, the production of a metabolite—lactate—genetically.

“Before this, no one knew that increasing or decreasing the lactate would have an effect on hair follicle stem cells,” says Dr. Lowry, a professor of molecular, cell and developmental biology, as reported on ScienceDaily. “Once we saw how altering lactate production in the mice influenced hair growth, it led us to look for potential drugs that could be applied to the skin and have the same effect.”

Two drugs in particular—known by the generic designations of RCGD423 and UK5099—influenced hair follicle stem cells in distinct ways to promote lactate production. The use of both drugs to promote hair growth are covered by provisional patent applications. However, they are experimental drugs and have been used in preclinical tests only. They won’t be ready for prime time until they’ve been tested in humans and approved by the Food and Drug Administration as safe and effective. (While you’re waiting for a male pattern baldness cure, check out these natural remedies for hair loss.)

So while it may be some time before these drugs are available—if ever—to treat baldless or alopecia, researchers are optimistic about the future. “Through this study, we gained a lot of interesting insight into new ways to activate stem cells,” says Aimee Flores, a predoctoral trainee in Lowry’s lab and first author of the study. “The idea of using drugs to stimulate hair growth through hair follicle stem cells is very promising given how many millions of people, both men and women, deal with hair loss. I think we’ve only just begun to understand the critical role metabolism plays in hair growth and stem cells in general; I’m looking forward to the potential application of these new findings for hair loss and beyond.”

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