Post by miloyalsupporter on May 3, 2006 22:01:17 GMT 7
Scientists get to the root of greying hair, report ALOK JHA.
Most people despair at the onset of grey hair.
Whether it's taken as a sign of premature decrepitude (disrepair), great wisdom, or extreme stress, scientists have been unable to explain why lustrous (shiny) locks turn dull - until now.
Researchers at Harvard University's Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and the Children's Hospital in Boston have identified what happens at the cellular level that eventually leads to hair losing its colour.
The discovery is unlikely to provide any scientific cures for grey hair anytime soon. But it is an important step in understanding the development of potentially fatal skin cancers known as malignant melanomas.
"Preventing the greying of hair is not our goal," said David E. Fisher, director of the Dana-Farber programme in melanoma, and one of the authors of the paper published recently in Science. "Our goal is to prevent or treat melanoma, and to the extent this research is revealing the life cycles of melanocytes, which are the cells that become cancerous in melanoma, we would love to identify a signal that would make a melanoma cell stop growing."
The scientists traced the greying process to the demise of a type of stem cell in the skin. These make a continous supply of melanocytes, cells which produce pigments in skin and hair. These stem cells not only get depleted over time, they also start making mistakes, turning into melanocytes in the wrong place in the hair follicle where they are unable to colour the hair.
The pattern of cellular signals that causes the death of the stem cells is of great interest. melanocytes that grow uncontrollably form tumours, which can prove fatal.
The gene responsible for keeping cells alive is known as Bcl2, so the scientists studied genetically engineered mice without it. They found the melanocyte stem cells in mice lacking the Bcl2 gene died shortly after birth and they quickly went grey. Dr Fisher said people who went grey prematurely may have mutations in their DNA that prevent the activity of their Bcl2 genes. - Guardian Newspapers Limited.
Note : American Idol contestant Taylor Hicks' grey hair could be due to mutation in DNA.
Source : Star Papers, 3 May 2006.
Most people despair at the onset of grey hair.
Whether it's taken as a sign of premature decrepitude (disrepair), great wisdom, or extreme stress, scientists have been unable to explain why lustrous (shiny) locks turn dull - until now.
Researchers at Harvard University's Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and the Children's Hospital in Boston have identified what happens at the cellular level that eventually leads to hair losing its colour.
The discovery is unlikely to provide any scientific cures for grey hair anytime soon. But it is an important step in understanding the development of potentially fatal skin cancers known as malignant melanomas.
"Preventing the greying of hair is not our goal," said David E. Fisher, director of the Dana-Farber programme in melanoma, and one of the authors of the paper published recently in Science. "Our goal is to prevent or treat melanoma, and to the extent this research is revealing the life cycles of melanocytes, which are the cells that become cancerous in melanoma, we would love to identify a signal that would make a melanoma cell stop growing."
The scientists traced the greying process to the demise of a type of stem cell in the skin. These make a continous supply of melanocytes, cells which produce pigments in skin and hair. These stem cells not only get depleted over time, they also start making mistakes, turning into melanocytes in the wrong place in the hair follicle where they are unable to colour the hair.
The pattern of cellular signals that causes the death of the stem cells is of great interest. melanocytes that grow uncontrollably form tumours, which can prove fatal.
The gene responsible for keeping cells alive is known as Bcl2, so the scientists studied genetically engineered mice without it. They found the melanocyte stem cells in mice lacking the Bcl2 gene died shortly after birth and they quickly went grey. Dr Fisher said people who went grey prematurely may have mutations in their DNA that prevent the activity of their Bcl2 genes. - Guardian Newspapers Limited.
Note : American Idol contestant Taylor Hicks' grey hair could be due to mutation in DNA.
Source : Star Papers, 3 May 2006.
