Key molecule to enhance or slow down hair growth - How To Cure Hair Loss and Hair Fall

A molecule that stimulates the development of hair follicles in the uterus may be used someday to treat hair loss or stop excessive growth.

(ANI): Jing Gao, Peter Marinkovich, and other scientists from the School of Medicine at Stanford University used embryonic mice genetically engineered to demonstrate that the molecule, called laminin-511, leads to embryonic stem cells of the skin to start hair growth. The activation signal may also stimulate the development of other organs such as kidneys and limbs.

In the early stages of mammalian development, laminin-511 sets up a "conversation" between the stem cells of the two outer layers of the skin. The top layer, the epidermis, is separated from the lower layer, called the dermis, by an intracellular space. The Laminin-511 helps bridge the gap between the two layers. The epidermis pumps laminin-511, which crosses to the dermis and stimulates the growth of tiny projections on the skin cells, similar to antennas that pick up epidermal signals.

Apart from encouraging the formation of these projections called primary cilia, laminin-511 triggers a chain reaction of biological signals traveling between the dermis and epidermis. The signals, which are sensed by primary cilia, they begin to grow hair follicles in the dermis.

Laminin-511 made hair grow at a specific stage of embryonic development of the mouse, equivalent to about the eighth month of human gestation, but researchers believe it may continue to act thereafter as provided for application against the loss of hair.

Hair loss is due to several factors, so the next step in their research is to determine whether laminin-511 is also involved in them.

If indeed active hair growth after birth, it is easy to use as therapy. Because the molecule acts between skin layers, rather than inside the cell, so merely a shot in the treated area.

Furthermore, by injecting antibodies against laminin-511 could block the growth of unwanted hair, being a viable alternative to other treatments in use today, such as laser hair removal.