Androgenic alopekia-Factors and cure

WashingtonThe androgenic alopecia due to a failure of stem cells to provide functional follicles and hairs, and this problem is potentially reversible, say researchers authoritative study of baldness-is a group of Greek origin, a dermatologist, who three years ago had managed to create follicles.The hair follicles are known to be formed from precursor cells, which in turn derived from skin stem cells (stem cells are completely undifferentiated, while the precursor cells are the next stage in the process of diversification and specialization).Male hair loss seems due to failure of stem cells to develop into progenitor cells, says team Kotsareli George, professor of dermatology at the University of Pennsylvania.H research is published in the Journal of Clinical Investigation.Complex mechanismThe androgenic alopecia is more common in men but also affects women, or even relatives such as chimpanzees and orangoutang.Due to an unknown sensitivity to androgens, the hormone group that owns and testosterone, the follicles of hair in certain areas of the head shrink, producing hairs feeble and eventually seem to disappear.The team of Dr. Kotsarelis suspected that the inability to form normal hair follicles due to a problem of either stem or precursor cells.To investigate this issue, examined men who undergo hair transplantation and compared the follicles in normal and bare spots of the head.The tests showed that in areas where the hairs have fallen, the number of stem cells remained normal, while the precursor cells were significantly reduced."The fact that there are normal numbers of stem cells in bare skin, gives us hope that we can reactivate stem cells," said Kotsarelis the BBC.Perhaps we have reason to trust the researcher's optimism: in 2007, had reported in the journal Nature that managed to create new hair follicles in mice by activating a group of proteins called Wnt.