One of the major problems of men in general is hair loss. It is a known fact that the majority of men at a certain point start balding and up to now it has been thought that there is nothing to do about it. Recent studies show that there is still hope.
There has been a team led by George Cotsarelis that performed a study to find the relationship between balding and the quality of the stem cells. They have been using some samples from men who had hair transplant and they compared the cells from the balding spots with the non-balding spots. The results were quite surprising: the number of stem cells has been the same in both cases. Nonetheless they have found a new kind of cell, which is more mature, known as progenitor.
This way the researchers concluded that the problem lies in the stem cell activation rather than in the number of these cells. In case of the male pattern balding the number isn’t reduced, but the hair follicles are shrinking. This means that they are still present and there might be a way to reactivate them.
Although the study has been a meticulous one, there is still o information available regarding the causes of these changes in the cells. In 2007 there has been another study conducted that found that these cells might regenerate by awakening some cells that are active only in the developing embryos. By activating these cells the researchers were able to form new hair follicles. Naturally up to now the researchers have been working only with mice.
According to the team, they would like to go on with the study and to make some researches regarding some other kinds of balding as well, for example female pattern hair loss. They might end up creating a treatment for this condition.
