Hair Voices
An international team of researchers led by Associate Professor Maksim Plikus and Professor Qing Nie from the University of California at Irvine demonstrated that all human body hair interacts with each other and grows in concert. This process is regulated by a single molecular mechanism, the activity of which is adjusted depending on the zone, which ensures the absence of hairless regions and different hair density on different parts of the body.
In animals, this regulatory process is extremely important for survival in the wild. In humans, the observations made by the authors can form the basis of new methods of combating both baldness and unwanted hair growth. In addition, they will help to understand in more detail how regions with faster and slower regeneration coherently function in other rapidly renewing tissues, such as the intestine and bone marrow.
The authors used the first mouse model of poor hair growth to study the mechanisms leading to the development of baldness. They turned their attention to the interaction between the Wnt protein-mediated signaling mechanism, which plays an important role in embryonic development and regeneration, and bone morphogenetic proteins (BMP), which are inhibitory factors for hair growth.
While earlier studies have shown that signals transmitted between the Wnt and BMP proteins regulate hair growth in certain areas of the body, until now it was not clear how different regions of the skin interact with each other to coordinate hair growth beyond their borders. Combining the skills of mathematical modeling and the knowledge gained in the study of the skin allowed them to demonstrate the universality of the mechanisms of regulation of hair growth on the entire surface of the skin.
Deciphering the complex mechanisms of regulation mediated by the Wnt-BMP complex can help to understand hair growth disorders and find methods to solve these problems. For example, widespread male pattern baldness manifests itself on the frontal and parietal zones and does not affect the hairline on the occipital part of the head. Apparently, in adults, the interaction between the hair follicles of the scalp stops, which begin to grow independently of each other.
Researchers believe that reactivating the interaction between non-balding and balding regions of the scalp can prevent baldness by restoring the signals that trigger hair growth. On the other hand, partial suppression of these signals will allow you to get rid of excessive hair growth on other parts of the body, including the face, arms and legs.
According to Dr. Plikus, the activity of signaling mechanisms mediated by Wnt and BMP proteins can be regulated pharmacologically. The authors were able to identify the types of Wnt-BMP signals that are favorable for hair growth and prevent it. In addition, they received evidence in favor of the existence of additional signaling factors that positively affect hair growth. The next stage of the work will be the study of these factors.
Article by Qixuan Wang et al. A multi-scale model for hair follicles reveals heterogeneous domains driving rapid spatiotemporal hair growth patterning published in eLife magazine.
Evgeniya Ryabtseva
Portal "Eternal youth" http://vechnayamolodost.ru based on materials from the University of California, Irvine: UCI study sheds light on regulation of hair growth across the entire body.
20.07.2017