Two in one: a cure for stress and baldness
CNewsR&D based on ScienceDaily:
Regrowing Hair: Researchers May Have Accidentally Discovered a Solution
Investigating the effect of anti-stress drugs on the digestive tract, scientists from the University of California at Los Angeles unexpectedly discovered a remedy for baldness. In the experiments, they used genetically modified mice suffering from overproduction of the stress hormone corticoliberin (CRF, corticotrophin-releasing factor). Such mice, as a rule, begin to go bald with age. Mice were injected with the drug astressin-B, which blocks the effect of CRF. Three months later, they decided to conduct a gastroenterological examination of the mice... and could not distinguish the genetically modified mice from the normal mice of the control group – almost all of them, previously bald, were densely overgrown with hair.
In row A – mice before the experiment.
In row B – they are three days after a five-day series of injections.
In a row With – they are in four weeks.
Researchers were struck not only by the fact of hair restoration itself, but also by the extremely long–lasting effect of the drug - injections were made for five days, one injection per day, and the effect of the drug affected even after four months. Given that mice live no more than two years, by human standards, this is a whole decade.
Subsequent experiments confirmed the initial result. When astressin-B was given to young genetically modified mice who had not yet had time to go bald, the drug prevented hair loss.
It has long been known that stress causes not only graying, but also baldness too. However, until now, none of the miracle drugs, sometimes based on anti-stress drugs, has led to a complete restoration of the hairline and has not produced such a long-term effect. So far, the drug has been tested only on mice, and whether it will work in the same way on humans is still unknown. But there are hopes for this. Firstly, bald mutant mice were treated for baldness with a "human" drug. It had the same effect on rodents as it does on humans – with modest results. Secondly, the stress hormone is also present in human skin, so it can be assumed that the mechanism of baldness in humans and mice is the same.
Portal "Eternal youth" http://vechnayamolodost.ru21.02.2011