Hair loss reversed in mice
- By Jeremy Harkin
- Published 1st March, 2011
- Hair News
- Unrated
Jeremy Harkin
Jeremy has enjoyed a varied career in advertising and media. He is now a freelance editorial consultant working with mainstream men's mags and their associated websites.
Scientists in California have unveiled details of an experiment that they claim has reversed hair loss in mice.
Working at the University of California, Los Angeles, Dr Million Mulugeta has said he and his team have discovered a particular chemical compound - quite by accident - that reversed balding in mice that had been genetically engineered to go bald through the presence of a particular stress hormone.
Prof. Mulugeta said that they had originally been examining a chemical compound that is said to block the effect of stress on the human gut. Their first indication that the compound was having unexpected effects was when they began to lose track of their mice.
"Three months [after injecting the compound into the mice] we were surprised to see they looked very similar to the non-genetically engineered mice in the cage," he said. "To our surprise we couldn't tell which one was which and we started to ask ourselves how this had happened."
The scientists continued observing the mice for 40 days and did not notice any subsequent hair loss, with many of them regaining 50 to 90 per cent of their hair.
Hair loss expert, Dr Jeff Donovan, said that the new discovery is not a cause for balding men to celebrate just yet, however, due to differing hair growth cycles.
"There is still potential that interesting therapies could be developed in the future, but it is a little early to make that conclusion," he explained.
Working at the University of California, Los Angeles, Dr Million Mulugeta has said he and his team have discovered a particular chemical compound - quite by accident - that reversed balding in mice that had been genetically engineered to go bald through the presence of a particular stress hormone.
Prof. Mulugeta said that they had originally been examining a chemical compound that is said to block the effect of stress on the human gut. Their first indication that the compound was having unexpected effects was when they began to lose track of their mice.
"Three months [after injecting the compound into the mice] we were surprised to see they looked very similar to the non-genetically engineered mice in the cage," he said. "To our surprise we couldn't tell which one was which and we started to ask ourselves how this had happened."
The scientists continued observing the mice for 40 days and did not notice any subsequent hair loss, with many of them regaining 50 to 90 per cent of their hair.
Hair loss expert, Dr Jeff Donovan, said that the new discovery is not a cause for balding men to celebrate just yet, however, due to differing hair growth cycles.
"There is still potential that interesting therapies could be developed in the future, but it is a little early to make that conclusion," he explained.