2023-04-21 15:24:18
NNothing shows you the aging processes in your own body more mercilessly than the gray hairs that seem to sprout out of your head much too early. The hair of some unfortunates is already streaked with gray in their twenties. The reason that blonde, black or brown disappears is that the cells that provide the color pigments, the so-called melanocytes, no longer function properly.
Fewer stem cells develop into melanocytes, consequently there is less pigment and the hair turns grey. Compared to other aging processes in the body, this development weakens quite early in life – why is unclear.
Individual hairs analyzed in mice
Dermatologists working with Qi Sun at New York University Grossman School of Medicine have now discovered that melanocyte progenitor cells behave differently than was previously known from stem cells. For two years, they analyzed individual hairs in mice, using special RNA sequencing, among other things.
The animal model showed that the development process of the stem cells can be reversible and therefore does not only work in one direction: Shortly before they reach the melanocyte stage, they can develop back into a precursor stage. In addition, there is the crucial point that the progenitor cells only finally develop into functional melanocytes if they migrate from the hair follicle into a certain region of the hair root.
This process often seems to be disturbed, which leads to the graying of the hair – possibly prematurely. The researchers hope that this mechanism could offer a target for drugs.
#Stem #Cell #Research #Hair #Turns #Gray