has a lot to do with pigment-making cells. that stem cells may get stuck as
hair ages and lose their ability to mature and maintain hair colour.The research focused on cells in the skin of mice and humans, called
melanocyte stem cells, or McSCs.
The study, led by researchers from New York University Grossman School of
Medicine, stated that certain stem cells have a unique ability to move
between growth compartments in the hair follicles, but they get stuck as
people age.In the latest experiments done on mice, it was seen that as hair
ages, sheds and then repeatedly grows back, increasing numbers of McSCs get
stuck in the stem cell compartment called the hair follicle bulge. The
McSCs transform between their most primitive stem cell state and the next
stage of their maturation depending on their location.
Researchers said, “These findings suggest that melanocyte stem cell
motility and reversible differentiation are key to keeping hair healthy and
colored.Our hair colour is controlled by McSCs, which are nonfunctional but
are continually multiplying”. The study showed that McSCs are remarkably
plastic. This means that during normal hair growth, such cells continually
move back and forth on the maturity axis.
