Everything We Thought We Knew About Baldness Could Be Wrong

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As much as women fuss about styling their hair, men fuss over keeping it.Roughly 80% of men will be affected by baldness before the age of 70, and while manyjust write it off as a hereditary hurdle, anew study has offered a thread of hope.Researchers from the University ofPennsylvania discovered that stem cells and their relation to specific proteins could bethe key. Examining men suffering from hair loss, they found that the same amount of stemcells were present in the areas of the scalp that were bald and the areas that grewhair.The difference was that in the bald areas, there was an overwhelmingamount of a protein called Prostaglandin D2, which was found to be shrinking the hairfollicles and leading to the smaller, thin hairs.Normally, the stem cells turnto progenitor cells and then use this protein to grow hair. In the areas of baldness, thestem cells were not converting, which meant they weren’t using the proteinproperly.So maybe the problem isn’t hereditary after all. For now,it’s a small breakthrough, but it’s a baby step that might pave the way forless baldness in the future. Continue Reading

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