A new study finds that trapped stem cells may be the cause of some aging hair turning gray.
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Photo Gary John Norman/Getty
A new study finds that trapped stem cells may be the cause of some aging hair turning gray.
Photo Gary John Norman/Getty
Have you ever wondered why your hair turns gray as you age? A team of researchers say they’ve identified the root cause of trapped stem cells — and that means new tips to fight gray on your mane naturally may come soon.
It all starts with a type of stem cell called melanocytesalso known as McSCs, the study said, was published in the journal Nature this week.
The study group from Cardinal Grossman School of Medicine are familiar with melanocytes. They are the main mechanism that produce melanin pigmentBring color to your skin and eyes.
That melanin is the key to hair color. McSCs hang around in your hair follicles, where they receive protein signals that tell them when to become mature cells. Mature cells release pigment and you get your hair color.
But during this study, researchers learned that McSCs actually move between microscopic compartments in your hair follicles. Each compartment can provide MsSC with a slightly different protein signal, allowing the cell to oscillate between different levels of maturation. That’s largely unlike how other stem cells work – that is, mature until they die.
MsSC’s unique maturity level becomes more complex as you get older. As your hair grows and falls out in cycles, more and more McSCs get trapped in a specific compartment called the hair follicle bulge.
Follicular bulging does not signal those McSCs to mature, and it does not return the McSCs to the compartment where they would mature. The trapped cells allow the hair to continue to grow, but the hair is not supplied with pigment. As a result, you become gray.
To prove the concept, the team created salt-and-pepper-colored mice by plucking and plucking their hairs over the course of two years.
They found that the number of McSCs located in the cystic bulge increased from 15% to almost 50%. But in young, untrimmed hairs, the McSCs continue to move around the different compartments, picking up protein signals and producing a consistent rich brown pigment.
Obviously, McSC isn’t the only factor that determines when your gray hair will regrow. Jenna Lester, a dermatologist and professor at the University of California, San Francisco, told NPR’s short waves podcasts have myriad factors beyond aging which plays a role.
“Some people think that sun exposure can do some damage to their melanocytes,” she says. “And hormones also play an important role.” Then there’s stress, genetics, and certain medical conditions, all of which can detract from the richer color of hair.
Overall, 74% of people between the ages of 45 and 65 have at least some silver thread, according to study from the National Institutes of Health.
If you’re in that camp and resent it, this new study could be a reason to rejoice: The researchers say that moving the McSCs to their proper location could prevent graying process.
And anyone who scoffed at the frivolity of straining silver fibers can rejoice: Researchers also say studies like these are taking us one step closer to a cure for the disease. cancer. (Serious.)
“We are interested in how the stem cells that reside in our bodies are tuned to maintain the body properly,” said Mayumi Ito, professor at NYU Langone Health and senior researcher on the study. and how they can regenerate tissues when they are lost due to injury. learn.
“When stem cell regulation goes bad, we get a lot of health problems including cancer,” she told NPR. “The melanocyte stem cell system is advantageous to understand this vast problem in medical science, because the breakdown of the system is so obvious.”
