Signaling from White Fat Tissue Contributes to Age-Related Hair Follicle Dysfunction

Changes in fat tissue behavior in the skin take place with age, such as rising levels of inflammation and inflammatory signaling. These changes have a detrimental effect on the ability of hair follicles to produce hair. The growth of hair is a complicated process that cycles through repeated phases of growth (anagen), transition (catagen), and rest (telogen). Aging leads to progressive dysfunction in this process and loss of hair in late life. A better understanding of the details of this dysfunction may lead to interventions, such as those attempted here in mice, to change the signaling of fat tissue in aged skin and thereby restore greater capacity to regrow hair. Progressive deterioration in the regenerative potential of stem cells is a hallmark of aging, which results in the failure to maintain proper tissue homeostasis. Hair follicles are independent autonomous stem cell niches and undergo continuous regenerative cycling during their lifespan. With aging, hair follicle have diminished self-renewing capacity, manifesting as cycling defects and poor responsiveness to activating stimuli. hair follicle cycling slows down with aging and gradually turns into senescent alopecia. Hair follicle stem cells are extensively reprogrammed by the aging process, manifesting as diminished self-renewal and delayed responsiveness to activating cues, orchestrated by both intrinsic microenvironmental and extrinsic macroenvironmental regulators. Dermal white adipose tissue (dW...
Source: Fight Aging! - Category: Research Authors: Tags: Daily News Source Type: blogs