According to a study published in the journal Nature by researchers at the New York University Grossman School of Medicine, the process is caused by some stem cells that lose the ability to move up and down in the hair follicles, a condition necessary for them to mature into melanocytes and produce pigment.
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As we age, hair turns gray due to some stem cells losing the ability to move up and down in the hair follicles, which is necessary for them to mature into melanocytes and produce pigment. This mechanism, first discovered in the skin of mice, may also be present in humans, paving the way for new treatments to maintain hair color. This is indicated by a study published in the journal Nature by researchers at New York University Grossman School of Medicine.
The mechanism discovered by scientists
In their experiments on mice, thanks to in vivo 3D visualization techniques and RNA sequencing technologies, the researchers were able to follow and track the cells in real time as they aged and moved from one compartment to another of the hair follicle, maturing and then becoming stem again. The data collected demonstrates that over time, as hair falls out and grows back, more and more stem cells lose their unique ability to move up and down the hair follicle. In practice they remain trapped in the swelling of the suprabulbar area, do not mature and are unable to descend into the germinal area of the bulb where the Wnt protein would have induced them to transform into melanocytes that produce pigment.
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Possible research developments
“These results suggest that motility and reversible differentiation of melanocyte stem cells are critical for maintaining healthy, colored hair,” says study coordinator, Mayumi Ito. For this reason, her research group intends to develop new strategies to restore the motility of stem cells or to move them directly into the germinal compartment of the follicle where they can produce pigment.
