2023-04-22 06:30:00
Melanocyte stem cells would be responsible for this phenomenon. A treatment might make it possible to modify the cells in order to stop the process.
Par Johanna Amselem
Published on
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Lhe years pass and you watch helplessly as your hair turns white. This mystery seems regarding to be cleared up. According to a study led by researchers from the Grossman School of Medicine at New York University (USA), they may have discovered why your hair is turning white. Who would be the culprit? It would seem that stem cells are responsible for this phenomenon. Indeed, the latter might remain blocked and thus lose their ability to maintain the natural color of the hair.
According to findings published in review Nature, melanocyte stem cells (McSCs) move back and forth from the developing hair follicle throughout normal hair growth. But researchers have found that as hair ages, falls out, and then grows back, an increasing number of these stem cells get stuck in a compartment called the “hair follicle bulb.” Thus, they do not mature and no longer return to their initial location, where they would have been stimulated in order to regenerate.
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A chameleon function
“Our study adds to our basic understanding of how melanocyte stem cells work to color hair. The newly discovered mechanisms raise the possibility that the same fixed positioning of melanocyte stem cells may exist in humans. If so, it presents a potential pathway to reverse or prevent graying of human hair by helping blocked cells move between compartments of the developing hair follicle once more,” explained the study’s lead researcher, Qi Sun, a postdoctoral fellow at NYU Langone Health, in the study press release.
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By discovering this mechanism, researchers might thus develop a treatment in order to modify the cells with the aim of reversing or stopping the process. In this way, it may be possible to prevent (or limit) hair bleaching. “It is the loss of melanocyte stem cell chameleon function that may be responsible for graying and loss of hair color. These results suggest that the motility and reversible differentiation of melanocyte stem cells are essential for maintaining healthy and colored hair”, summarizes Mayumi Ito, principal investigator of the study and professor at the Ronald O. Perelman Department of Dermatology and the Department of Cell Biology from NYU Langone Health.
With this discovery, the science team now plans to investigate ways to restore the motility of the McSCs or physically return them to their compartment so that they can continue to produce pigment.
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