Discovery could result in revolutionary treatment to prevent or even reverse the process that turns gray hair, considered inevitable as we age. Gray hair is one of the things we accept as inevitable and that affects all of us as we age . For that reason, many people have probably never stopped to think about what the process that turns gray hair looks like. Now, however, scientists believe they have discovered the mechanism by which hair turns white, which could help in the development of a treatment to alter the cells and stop this process. A new study published in the scientific journal Nature, coordinated by researchers at the Grossman School of Medicine at New York University (NYU), suggests that stem cells – which are capable of converting into many different cell types – would have the unique ability from moving between the growth compartments of the hair follicles where they can become trapped as the hair strand ages, causing it to lose its ability to mature and maintain its color. The study focused on melanocyte stem cells (McSC) present in the skin of humans and mice. Scientists have discovered that skin color depends on McSC which, although they do not perform any specific function, continue to divide inside the hair follicles where they receive the signal to convert into mature cells that generate the first protein pigments responsible for hair color. Research suggests that with aging and the successive cycles of hair growth, shedding and regrowth, more and more McSC become trapped in the cellular compartment called the hair follicle bulge. These cells remain in this compartment, without passing to the transit-amplification state – the transformation between the most primitive state of a stem cell to the next phase of its maturation – and are unable to migrate to the predicted location within this compartment, where they would receive the signal to transform into pigment-producing cells. Reversing or Preventing Graying If the study results are applicable to humans, the researchers believe it could provide ways to prevent or reverse the appearance of gray hair. “Our study extends the basic knowledge about how melanocyte stem cells act to color the hair”, explains Qi Sun, one of the main researchers of the study, and a postdoctoral fellow at the Langone Health center at NYU. “The new mechanisms demonstrate the possibility that this same fixed position of melanocyte stem cells could also exist in humans. If so, it would present a potential way to reverse or prevent the human hair aging mechanism by helping trapped cells to move again between the compartments of the developing hair follicle,” he noted. The study coordinator, Mayumi Ito, physician and professor in the Department of Dermatology Ronald O. Perelman, which is part of the Department of Cellular Biology Langone Health at NYU, suggests that the loss of chameleonic function of melanocyte stem cells could be the underlying cause. graying and bleaching of hair. Ito says that the research results suggest that the mobility and reversible differentiation of melanocyte stem cells are fundamental for healthy and pigmented hair. By applying 3D intravital imaging techniques and scRNA-seq single-cell RNA sequencing, scientists were able to follow cell movements in near real-time throughout the hair follicle aging process. The researchers set out to carry out further studies on how to restore the McSC’s ability to move or return them to their original location within the germinal compartment, from where they can produce pigments. Author: Felipe Espinosa Wang
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