Posts Tagged ‘Valerie Horsley’
Stem Cell Study Could be Key for Baldness
In a recent Yale study, researchers have found that signals from stem cells within skin’s fatty layer may spur hair growth in mice, promoting a possible new treatment for baldness in men and women.
According to the study’s senior author Valerie Horsley, an assistant professor of molecular, cellular and developmental biology at Yale University, she noted in a recent press release, “If we can get these fat cells in the skin to talk to the dormant stem cells at the base of the hair follicles, we might be able to get hair to grow again.”
For men battling male pattern baldness, stem cells remain in their hair follicle roots; however, they lose the ability to stimulate hair growth. These stem cells need signals from within the skin for hair to grow but where to find the signals has been a mystery.
According to the Yale study, researchers discovered that after hair dies, the layer of fat in the scalp that comprises most of the skin’s thickness shrinks; however, as hair growth begins, this fat layer will expand.
In this study using mice, researchers found their hair regeneration required a type of stem cell involved in the creation of new skin fat cells and that these cells produced the molecules required to produce hair growth. Once these imperfect mice received injections of stem cells from healthy mice, hair follicles began to grow.
Previously, studies on men have with bald parts of their scalp have disclosed they have the same number of hair stem cells as hairy areas. With these injections, scientists found that an 86 percent kick start in hair growth. However, the question now is whether or not these stem cell injections can work on humans and stimulate hair growth.
Additional studies will need to take place and it could take quite some time to determine its effect on humans but this is good news for those suffering with baldness.
The report was recently disclosed in the September issue of the journal, Cell.
If you are interested in learning more about hair loss, please visit the Hair Foundation’s new physician videos. The series includes a video on hair loss.