mercredi 10 mai 2017
A New Study Finally Determined What Causes Gray Hair - and No, It's Not Stress
Contrary to popular belief, gray hair doesn't grow out of stressful situations or having to parent teenagers. A new study conducted by the by the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center actually determined the two proteins essential to hair growth and pigmentation. The best part? Their findings were all an accident.
Published in Genes & Development, the study was meant to examine certain kinds of tumors using mice. What they ended up finding were the causes of gray hair and baldness. Here's the breakdown: KROX20 is a protein that triggers skin cells to become hair shafts. The cumbersomely named protein also triggers cells to product a stem cell factor protein, or SCF. The loss of KROX20 leads to baldness, while the loss of the SCF gene leads to gray hair.
While the researchers did not determine what might cause the loss of those two proteins apart from just genetics, they do have hope for future solutions. In a press statement, Dr. Lu Le said, "With this knowledge, we hope in the future to create a topical compound or to safely deliver the necessary gene to hair follicles to correct these cosmetic problems."
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