Hair Loss and MicroRNA 22

A fair number of research groups are involved in investigations of the fine details of age-related hair loss. As in most research related to aging, scientists are for the most part much more interested in mapping the chain of change and consequence in cellular biochemistry than in seeking out first causes. The outcome here is that later attempts to build therapies based on new knowledge tend to involve prevention or alteration of downstream consequences of cellular and molecular damage rather than trying to repair or prevent that damage. All other things being equal, this is never going to be the best path forward. For one the consequences of a given form of damage will always be more numerous and more complex than the damage itself: much more effort is involved in chasing down all the loose ends. Secondly messing with the consequences of damage does nothing about the damage itself, which remains to continue causing harm. During the active phase of the hair growth cycle, stem cell activity sustains an actively dividing population of epithelial cells at the base of the hair follicle called matrix cells. As progeny of the matrix cells move upward from the follicle base (or bulb), they differentiate into a hardened hair shaft, which emerges above the skin surface. Fully differentiated hair shafts consist of dead, but mechanically sound and highly cross-linked, keratin-filled cells. After a period of active hair shaft production, follicles activate an involution program, during ...
Source: Fight Aging! - Category: Research Authors: Tags: Daily News Source Type: blogs