Discover the Secret to Stop Gray Hair in Its Tracks!
A recent study conducted by researchers from NYU Grossman School of Medicine has uncovered how certain stem cells, known as melanocyte stem cells (McSCs), play a crucial role in maintaining hair color and how their behavior changes with age. The study, published in the journal Nature, focused on both mice and humans.
The researchers found that McSCs exhibit remarkable plasticity, continually transitioning between their primitive stem cell state and a more mature transit-amplifying state, depending on their location within the developing hair follicle. However, as hair ages, more McSCs become trapped in the stem cell compartment known as the hair follicle bulge. These trapped cells do not mature and fail to return to their original location, where they would regenerate into pigment-producing cells in response to WNT proteins.
Breakthrough Discovery: Scientists Turn Back the Clock on Skin Cells by 30 Years
The technology for rejuvenating human cells already exists and involves the creation of induced pluripotent stem cells.
To simplify, this technology makes human cells 'forget' their original functions, allowing them to potentially adopt any program given by scientists. Imagine an adult who has learned a specific profession, like that of a pilot. Scientists can make this person forget all their pilot skills and turn them into a child, who can then learn any other profession.
The developers of the methods for creating induced pluripotent stem cells are scientists Shinya Yamanaka and John Gurdon, who were awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology and Medicine in 2012 for their achievements. They identified four molecules called Yamanaka factors that play a crucial role in 'erasing cell memory.' The technology exists, but currently, there are significant limitations in transforming these cells into all common cell types.
