Inspector Barnaby's Daughter

Too much stress makes your hair fall? From California comes the solution
Researchers at the 'University of California' by chance have identified a peptide called b-astressin in laboratory animals that blocks the action of the stress and causes the regrowth of hair. Soon a patent for humans

(Ap / Lapresse) Rome, February 17, 2011 - Stress plays a role not only in the arrival of white hair, but also the loss of hair. A problem widespread, so much so that over the years have increased the 'miracle lotions' and drug treatments against baldness. But also effective products are unable to return a luxuriant head of hair.

Now a team led by researchers at the University of California at Los Angeles (USA) and the Veterans Administration, thinks he has found a solution. A discovery came by accident.

investigating how stress affects the gastrointestinal function, U.S. researchers think they have found a chemical compound that induces hair growth by blocking the stress hormone. The unexpected discovery is described online at 'PLoS ONE'.

"Our results demonstrate that treatment short-term with this compound causes an incredible long-term hair regrowth in mutant mice, chronically stressed, "says Mulugeta Million,
the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA.

" This could open new ways to treat the fall hair in humans through the modulation of stress hormone receptors, in particular against hair loss related to chronic stress and aging.

The research team, which originally was studying the brain-gut interactions, it also includes scholars the 'Salk Institute for Biological Studies' La Jolla, California, and of the 'Oregon Health Sciences University.' For their experiments, the researchers used
topi geneticamente modificati per produrre in eccesso un ormone dello stress: il fattore di rilascio della corticotropina (Crf). Questi topi con l'età perdono peli e alla fine diventano calvi sulla schiena, cosa che li rende molto riconoscibili.

I ricercatori dell'Istituto Salk avevano sviluppato il composto chimico, un peptide chiamato astressin-B, descrivendo la sua capacità di bloccare l'azione del Crf. Così sono stati realizzati gli animaletti ingegnerizzati ad hoc.

Iniettando la molecola nei topi calvi, i ricercatori dell'UCLA hanno visto che una sola applicazione non dava effetti, così hanno continuato per 5 giorni, per dare al peptide una migliore possibilità di bloccare i recettori 'nel mirino'. They then observed the effects in the colon of animals subjected to induced stress, putting them in cages along with the hairy guinea pigs used to make the comparison.

About three months later, investigators have withdrawn out of the mice to be more research into gastrointestinal and found it could no longer distinguish the genetically modified animals from normal. The hair had grown back, thick and glossy, glabrous on the backs above. "When we analyzed the identification number of the mice on which the hair was 'returned' we found that, in effect, the peptide was responsible for the super-bald regrowth in mice," says Mulugeta. "Subsequent studies have confirmed this phenomenon in an unequivocal manner."

Di particolare interesse, secondo gli autori, è la breve durata dei trattamenti: solo un'iniezione al giorno per cinque giorni consecutivi basta per mantenere gli effetti per un massimo di quattro mesi."Un tempo relativamente lungo, visto che i topi vivono meno di due anni", ha aggiunto Mulugeta. Se l'effetto si conserverà anche nell'uomo, il peptide potrebbe rappresentare una soluzione duratura contro l'incubo calvizie. UCLA e Salk Institute ci credono così tanto che hanno presentato domanda di brevetto per l'uso del peptide astressin-B per la crescita dei capelli.