Male Pattern Balding May Be Due to Stem Cell Inactivation

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lost.hair.lost.youth
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Male Pattern Balding May Be Due to Stem Cell Inactivation

Post by lost.hair.lost.youth » Fri Jan 14, 2011 5:45 am

EDIT: grrrrrrrrrr.... nevermind this message. This info was already mentioned by Jacob here

It seems I'm unable to delete my message, so if any mod sees this, please feel free to delete this message.






Not that this means anything in practical terms for now, but I just found it interesting since there are lots of products with stem cells from the flora kingdom.
Basically, what the article says is that the number of stem cells is the same between bald and non-balding, the problem is with the activation of those stem cells.

http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Rel ... ctivation/
Using cell samples from men undergoing hair transplants, the team compared follicles from bald scalp and non-bald scalp, and found that bald areas had the same number of stem cells as normal scalp in the same person. However, they did find that another, more mature cell type called a progenitor cell was markedly depleted in the follicles of bald scalp.

The researchers surmised that balding may arise from a problem with stem-cell activation rather than the numbers of stem cells in follicles. In male pattern balding, hair follicles actually shrink; they don’t disappear. The hairs are essentially microscopic on the bald part of the scalp compared to other spots.

“We asked: ‘Are stem cells depleted in bald scalp?’” says Cotsarelis. “We were surprised to find the number of stem cells was the same in the bald part of the scalp compared with other places, but did find a difference in the abundance of a specific type of cell, thought to be a progenitor cell,” he says. “This implies that there is a problem in the activation of stem cells converting to progenitor cells in bald scalp.”

At this point, the researchers don’t know why there is a breakdown in this conversion. “However, the fact that there are normal numbers of stem cells in bald scalp gives us hope for reactivating those stem cells,” notes Cotsarelis.

In 2007, the Cotsarelis lab found that hair follicles in adult mice regenerate by re-awakening genes once active only in developing embryos. The team determined that wound healing in a mouse model created an “embryonic window” of opportunity to manipulate the number of new hair follicles that form. By activating dormant embryonic molecular pathways stem cells were coaxed into forming new hair follicles.

In the JCI study, the group also found a progenitor cell population in mice that is analogous to the human cells; these cells were able to make hair follicles and grow hair when injected into an immunodeficient mice.

The researchers say their next steps will be to study the stem and progenitor populations in other types of hair loss, including female pattern hair loss. The information may assist in developing cell-based treatments for male pattern balding by isolating stem cells and expanding them to add back to the scalp directly. They will also focus on identifying factors that could be used topically to convert stem cells to progenitor cells to generate normal large hairs.

First author Luis Garza, MD, PhD, a dermatologist and former postdoctoral fellow in the Cotsarelis lab, performed much of the work and is now an assistant professor of Dermatology at Johns Hopkins University.

The research was funded in part by the National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases; the Pennsylvania Department of Health; the Fannie Gray Hall Center for Human Appearance; and L’Oreal.

Jacob
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Re: Male Pattern Balding May Be Due to Stem Cell Inactivation

Post by Jacob » Fri Jan 14, 2011 4:01 pm

It was brought up in the General forum as well..but I'll add this to it here..some of you may remember this:
"The mechanism of hair growth has been clarifying itself by the improvement in the culture techniques for hair follicle cells. Recently stem cells inducing the anagen phase in the hair follicle cycle have been discovered in the bulge region of the outer root sheath (ORS). To find growth-promoting agents for the ORS cells, we evaluated the effect of various botanical extracts on the growth of cultured human hair follicles. We found that Laminaria angustata extract increased the ORS cell growth. Further, hair-growth in the shaved skin of C3H mice was also promoted by the topical application of the extract."

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Re: Male Pattern Balding May Be Due to Stem Cell Inactivation

Post by Fizzball » Fri Jan 14, 2011 4:29 pm

Given the information at hand I suspect we will have an entire new fleet of products on the market soon, as we now seem to have some sort of goal to aim for but with every discovery and line of products comes the risk of marketing scams and ineffective products from shady dealers.
Don't mistake my optimism for stupidity

lost.hair.lost.youth
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Re: Male Pattern Balding May Be Due to Stem Cell Inactivation

Post by lost.hair.lost.youth » Sat Jan 15, 2011 7:45 am

@ Jacob
You had me to google for that one Jacob and wow... a scientific discovery from 2004. Something relevant as that and we're still stuck to a shiny head :-x
Did anyone try that Laminaria product from Elsom or any other similar product?

@ Fizzball
Yeah, I also think that's the big problem. Hair loss products are a cursed cash cow. Throw in some buzz words and start cashing.
Hell, if a company is so sure (or full) of their product, offer a 6 month treatment to 1000 persons, after 6 months show the results to the bald population, and then finally get rich in an instant. Hey! They can even make a reality tv show out of it and still make money while at it.
Sometimes companies even do their benchmarking in a population smaller than 100 persons... how significant is that?
*sigh* sorry for the venting... but this gets tiresome. Now I remember why I was never a fan of hair loss products.

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Re: Male Pattern Balding May Be Due to Stem Cell Inactivation

Post by Fizzball » Sat Jan 15, 2011 11:11 am

I was actually thinking about writing an article to address the issues of hair loss products and their companies but I haven't got around to it yet, basically you have hit the nail on the head in terms companies failing to provide an adequate representation of their products through thorough research and development.
The companies are letting themselves down really because they may actually be on to something or their products may have some merit but they all seem to shoot themselves in the foot, take stemcelex they got caught trying to pass of a picture of a patient as their own when it was later discovered to be from another website and worse yet a completely different product, they made up some stupid excuse as to why that occurred but no one bought it or their product and rightly so because in my opinion they went out of their way to manipulate the image to minimise similarities by attempting to crop out the majority of the head and shrinking the image but the hair pattern, brush stroke, quality, texture of the hair was identical and compared by people and they were thus caught red handed.

Another one that I feel is highly dubious now is TRX2 as they seem to what you to pay and become part of a 'special club' and use their products, there is nothing public about it all and nothing other than marketing junk driving it from my point of view, I am open to see results but at this point there seems to be nothing available although I should mention that it has only been out for a few short weeks.

I hope with this research available we see a new era of positive products that actually live up to their sometimes massive and outrageous claims.
Don't mistake my optimism for stupidity

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Re: Male Pattern Balding May Be Due to Stem Cell Inactivation

Post by Fizzball » Sat Jan 15, 2011 12:42 pm

I also wonder how this latest research discovery coincides with products such as Renokin which actually seems like it has merit furthermore the Renokin website is detailed enough to get a grasp of what they aer getting at. Given their animations though it seems to me that the indication and research on their behalf suggest that the hair is completely gone after experience hair loss however the article mentioned in this thread I believe suggests that the hair is still very much there but rather microscopic and unable to grow into a proper cycle due to some form of malfunction.

If I am correct in my analysis perhaps Renokin may not be as effective as they themselves believe, I'm no expert on the subject by any stretch of the imagination but thats my understanding on the matter. Renokin is however designed to actually produce new hair rather than just repair existing hair in their early stages of miniaturisation so it may still be a very important product. On a side not the Renokin website cantains adeqet information to pass as a decent website, I would however like to see a more active and continual study on their part to prove their product continually as worthy.
Don't mistake my optimism for stupidity

Jacob
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Re: Male Pattern Balding May Be Due to Stem Cell Inactivation

Post by Jacob » Sat Jan 15, 2011 2:11 pm

lost.hair.lost.youth wrote:@ Jacob
You had me to google for that one Jacob and wow... a scientific discovery from 2004. Something relevant as that and we're still stuck to a shiny head :-x
Did anyone try that Laminaria product from Elsom or any other similar product?
Yeah..sometimes these things don't always translate to crazy growth on our heads. Or at least they don't allow us to find out :!: I haven't searched too much lately but we could never find a product that contained that specific strain or whatever you want to call it. Stemcellex I thought contained it..but that's not what I see now on the website. This shampoo contains it though..who knows what %: http://theamericanremedies.com/shampoos ... p-shampoo/

I tried the Laminaria product from Elsom..it was Laminaria digitata I think. I guess they would be a good one to ask again to carry it as an option to add to a custom topical. Back then they were unable to obtain it..or maybe they just didn't think it was worth it at the time. I guess I'd use it again with the Laminaria angustata..even though I wasn't crazy with the color and smell.

On the way ppl/companies operate and promote things...I don't get why some even make claims. Just provide the product and/or ingredient(s)..if there's any research/studies on them provide it...leave it at that.

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Re: Male Pattern Balding May Be Due to Stem Cell Inactivation

Post by Jacob » Sat Jan 15, 2011 2:20 pm

BTW..I've sent an email to the company behind the Laminaria study to see if they know of anyone using the stuff and/or if they have any updates on it and other extracts. Scroll down a bit for the hair part: http://technoble.co.jp/english/product/functional.html

Edit..I am seeing quite a few skin products/cosmetics out there that contain it now....

lost.hair.lost.youth
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Re: Male Pattern Balding May Be Due to Stem Cell Inactivation

Post by lost.hair.lost.youth » Sat Jan 15, 2011 3:32 pm

Fizzball wrote:I was actually thinking about writing an article to address the issues of hair loss products and their companies but I haven't got around to it yet, basically you have hit the nail on the head in terms companies failing to provide an adequate representation of their products through thorough research and development.
That would be great!
But you really don't have to it yourself on your own. Unfortunately this site doesn't support a wiki, but this is still doable by someone starting a new thread and keeping things sorted out in the first post, with users contributing with any info they find relevant. One of the goals should be comparing results from each product on the same terms.
For example (and this is just a quick template):
Product: Regeron Pristeen
Product type: topical
Website: http://regeron.com/page.php?page_=e_sub3_5
Ingredients: Sh-polypeptide-7 (human growth hormone; hGH); list of ingredients
Independent Results: N/A
Cause and effect: the synthetic hGH induces the growth of new hair follicles
Internal Results: Effects of Nanolipo-hGH on Hair
Hair count before and after treatment per 1 cm²: N/A
Hair count in control group per 1 cm²: ?? And treated group: ??
Comparison with the golden standard: +- ?? hairs than Minoxidil; +- ?? hairs than Finasteride; +- ?? hairs than Dutasteride
Method used to count the number of hairs: SEM
Link to pictures: N/A
Side effects: N/A
Link to discussion in HLF: here
User comments on results and side effects: (several links to posts made by users in this forum, which should state period of time and complete regimen at the time)
There is a lot of info on these forums and possibly a lot of feedback by users, but things are just spread out and lost. It seem like a wild goose hunt.

Hell, this sounds like an even better idea now that I wrote all that... here's another one (I'm on a roll):
Product: Saw palmetto extract
Product type: food (you eat it right? I never used it)
Website: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saw_palmetto_extract
Ingredients: rich in fatty acids and phytosterols
Cause and effect: inhibit both isoforms of 5-alpha-reductase without eliminating the cellular capacity to secrete PSA in rats and mice (1)
Independent Results: (I would need to sort out through the wikipedia reference links)
Internal Results: N/A
Hair count before and after treatment per 1 cm²: N/A
Hair count in control group per 1 cm²: ?? And treated group: ??
Comparison with the golden standard: +- ?? hairs than Minoxidil; +- ?? hairs than Finasteride; +- ?? hairs than Dutasteride
Method used to count the number of hairs: N/A
Link to pictures: N/A
Side effects: N/A
Link to discussion in HLF: Saw Palmetto and Shed Saw Palmetto Extract Matches Known Drug Who here presently uses Saw Palmetto?
User comments on results and side effects: (several links to posts made by users in this forum, which should state period of time and complete regimen at the time)

Ultimately companies can fabricate their results... unless: (1) the study is done by an independent institute or (2) they provide a comparison with other products and then you pitch results across companies so they can confirm or dismiss.
If we have results by company X and ask company Y to provide comparative results, they'll probably feel pressured. Even more if we can make a small lobby ("hey I'm a user from an online forum and the people there is interested in knowing ....").


Offtopic (well, in fact this is ontopic, the above was offtopic):
When I was browsing wikipedia I found this (somewhat recent):
In December 2010, scientists at the Berlin Technical University in Germany revealed they have grown the world's first artificial hair follicles from stem cells. Research leader Dr Roland Lauster said within five years millions of hair-loss sufferers could grow new hair from their own stem cells and have it implanted into their bald spots. He also announced that preparations for clinical trials were "already in motion".



@ Admin
advanced forum search is not working when trying to search in topic title only.

lost.hair.lost.youth
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Re: Male Pattern Balding May Be Due to Stem Cell Inactivation

Post by lost.hair.lost.youth » Sat Jan 15, 2011 3:37 pm

Jacob wrote:On the way ppl/companies operate and promote things...I don't get why some even make claims. Just provide the product and/or ingredient(s)..if there's any research/studies on them provide it...leave it at that.
There's also the problem of just using buzz words in the labels (ie, they say they use it but don't) or even guaranteeing that the ingredients are preserved instead of interacting with each other and losing their properties.
But yes, even this would filter a lot of spam.
Jacob wrote:BTW..I've sent an email to the company behind the Laminaria study to see if they know of anyone using the stuff and/or if they have any updates on it and other extracts. Scroll down a bit for the hair part: http://technoble.co.jp/english/product/functional.html

Edit..I am seeing quite a few skin products/cosmetics out there that contain it now....
Cool. Let's see what they have to say.


EDIT:
I just found out a very interesting bit (not sure if good or not) about the news in the first post, here:
George Cotsarelis, a dermatologist from the University of Pennsylvania and co-founder of Follica, co-authored a paper on the research released today from the Journal of Clinical Investigation. Follica itself did not participate in the research.
Follica CEO William Ju says that the findings in the paper are in line with the rationale for the company’s experimental device and drug treatment for baldness. The mostly virtual biotech firm, which was hatched and incubated at PureTech Ventures in Boston, has been developing a treatment for pattern baldness that stimulates the re-growth of hair follicles by harnessing a natural wound-healing response.

EDIT 2:
other 2 pieces of news that I found interesting:
regarding the news at the Berlin Technical University and also Histogen;
a nice round up of the state of things, although the writing on Histogen doesn't seem to add up to the pics on their website

Jacob
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Re: Male Pattern Balding May Be Due to Stem Cell Inactivation

Post by Jacob » Thu May 01, 2014 6:08 pm

Bumping up this old thread since Laminaria angustata is mentioned.

http://www.in-cosmetics.com/__novadocum ... 4520600000

The secret to the LA?
M-034

Extracted from brown
algae (Laminaria angustata), M-034 can help to
increase the thickness of the hair fiber and also help to prevent hair
loss by lengthening the growth period of the hair follicle.
Recommended use level: 10%
The same company also has
R-021

This extract from the bark of
bamboo shoots activates dermal papilla
cells promoting the synthesis of hair growth factors impacting the
thickness of the hair fiber and prolonging the actual hair growth phase.
Recommended use level: 2
-
10%

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