A team of scientists from the United States and Brazil teamed to find a link between stress and our hair turning white. While we know our genes can play a factor, these scientists were curious about the effects stress can have. Researchers from the Universities of Harvard and Sao Paulo came together to answer this troubling question.
Melanocyte stem cells are responsible for producing melanin, which creates our hair and skin color. When the mice got stressed, they released adrenaline and cortisol, which in turn raised their heart rates and blood pressure. Once this happened, their bodies sped up the depletion of stem cells responsible for providing melatonin to their hair follicles.
These stem cells don’t regenerate.
Within a few days, the mice had depleted all of their stem cells, and their hair began to turn white after an unspecified amount of time. To combat this, researchers gave another group of mice medication to combat high blood pressure, which kept their hair black. After isolating their genes to find the differences, they discovered that when a protein called cyclin-dependent kinase (CDK) was suppressed, the mice didn’t change hair color.
While this is not a treatment plan for hair loss, it has pointed researchers in the right direction. Studies will likely next work to find a drug to suppress CDK in people, but that is still far away. For now, we can be content with understanding the link between stress and white hair.
Dr. Brody’s DNA Analysis
Dr. Brody utilizes the Opus23 technology to analyze a patient’s DNA. He is able to look at a patient’s genetic profile and look at their genes including CDK directly. With this information, Dr. Brody can create a personalized treatment plan to help patients reduce stress levels and maintain their natural hair color.
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