Researchers may have discovered a permanent cure for baldness. The cure relies heavily on a special TGF-beta protein that controls hair follicles’ process to divide and form new cells. Thanks to the findings, we may be able to find new treatment options for baldness and even speed up wound healing.
Scientists may have discovered a permanent cure for baldness
The human body is an intriguing thing, from the way our organs work together to the very cells that make up those organs. Scientists are constantly finding out new things about the human body. One of the most intriguing recent discoveries is how important a single cell type is to hair follicles. It’s so important it could provide a permanent cure for baldness.
Further, the chemical may provide more insight into stem cells, as hair follicles are a source of this vital cell type. This chemical is so intriguing and could lead to progress in finding a cure for hair loss because of its very specific function. This chemical controls when hair follicle cells divide and when they die.
Aside from providing a possible permanent cure for baldness, this chemical can also control when stem cells divide and die. As such, it could lead to other revolutionary discoveries in medicine. Chief among those is the ability to recover and heal wounds faster. The researchers published a paper on the discovery in the most recent issue of Biophysical Journal.
Faster healing
Finding a permanent cure for baldness would be game-changing. But, if we could also discover a way to make wounds heal faster, we’d open entirely new doors for medicine. That’s why this chemical’s control of hair follicle cells and stem cells is so boggling. If we can discover a way to harness those cells and that control, we could control stem cell division.
Stem cells are important because they can change into almost any other cell type. This makes them exceptionally useful for healing wounds. You can take stem cells and place them almost anywhere in the body, and the cells can then mimic and turn into the other cells around it.
But, finding a permanent cure for baldness and even healing wounds faster means finding the perfect balance for this chemical. Too much causes apoptosis. Which would lead to more hair loss and loss of cells, as the chemical kills off those cells.
Suppose we can determine precisely how the chemical activates cell division and how it communicates with other important genes. In that case, we may be able to activate the cells ourselves and stimulate hair growth. That same information could also be translated to other uses, like treating wounds.
