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Researchers have made an amazing discovery that could change how we view aging, The New York Times reports. It may even prevent us from going bald.
The team discovered two genes that are involved in hair aging in aging animals. This could be the basis for new treatments to prevent hair loss in humans.
Scientists believed that stem cell exhaustion caused hair to turn whiter over time.
Rui Yi, Northwestern University's pathology professor, found that this theory may be incorrect by studying the growth and age of individual hair strands in mice.
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Instead of dying off, stem cells actually squeezed out from the tiny holes in hair follicles and changed their shape to make them grow. The stem cells ran away, in other words.
Yi said that if I didn't see it myself, I wouldn't have believed it. Yi shared his thoughts with The New York Times. It's almost insane to me.
Yi and his team looked into the genetic mechanisms that control this activity. They identified two genes, FOXC1 & NFATC1, that trap stem cells in the hair follicle bulge. These genes are less active in older hair cells.
The team created mice that were devoid of either one of these genes to prove their theory. They began to lose their hair after just four to five weeks. They had lost their hair for 16 months, which is roughly the time that mice reach middle age.
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Researchers are currently testing whether stem cells can be saved from the hair follicles by aging mice. If they can, it could change everything for people who have lost their hair.
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