Eventually, all of us will have our hair turn grey and it is the first outward sign that someone is growing old, in most cases. The process that turns a person’s hair grey is becoming better understood and the result of this is it might be safeguarding us from contracting cancer.
There are cells known as melanocytes, which are responsible for generating the pigmentation that colors our hair, this cells quantities are determined by stem cells. Hair begins to go grey when stem cells in the follicle of hair begin to reduce. A Japanese research team of scientists at the Tokyo Medical and Dental University in Japan now know what is responsible for this reduction in stem cells when it occurs in mice.
Scientists opened mice up to radiation and chemicals known to damage DNA, those cells that were harmed were transformed irreversibly into melanocytes. In the end, this meant fewer melanocytes, since there would be fewer stem cells available to raise levels in the melanocyte group. The rodents also turned grey. The research team hypothesizes that the same reaction leads to a decline in the stem cells of the follicles in the elderly, specifically when the DNA is ravaged over time due to aging.
A Harvard medical researcher named David Fisher specializing in cancer said the procedures could assist in safeguarding humans from cancer by thwarting the proliferation of stem cells that have damaged DNA that could facilitate mutations. A likely effectual advantage would be the elimination of possible hazardous cells, which might contain pre cancerous potential. Grey hair might well be an unwelcome by product of age, but the manner by which it is produced is becoming better understood and may well be defending us from cancer.
Tue, Jan 12, 2010
Anti Aging, Gerontology, Health And Aging, Stem cells