American scientists have identified certain stem cells in the layer of fat under the skin that send molecular signals that determine when hair grows. In fact, when hair dies, the fat layer of the scalp shrinks. On the contrary, as hair grows, this same layer of cells expands in a process known as adipogenesis. One of the molecules that fat cells produce is known as PDGF (Platelet Derived Growth Factor), and it had previously been associated with hair growth.
Men who suffer from baldness retain stem cells at the root of the hair , but these have lost the ability to activate to regenerate it and remain "numb." Now that scientists know where the command they need to activate comes from, alopecia could have its days numbered. "If we can get the fat cells to" talk "to the stem cells at the root of the hair follicle, we could make the hair grow back," says Valerie Horsley, researcher at Yale University (USA) and co-author of the study. published today in the journal Cell .
