Researching Stress, Scientists May Have Accidentally Found Baldness Cure

Wednesday, February 16, 2011 - 17:50 in Health & Medicine

Four Re-Haired Mice Injection of a stress hormone blocker into bald mice induces new hair growth and pigmentation. See how they grow hair from row A to row C! UCLA/VA Some of the greatest discoveries in science have been total accidents - Alexander Fleming's use of penicillin, Wilson and Penzias' discovery of the cosmic microwave background, etc. Today, scientists announced they've once again unintentionally made a monumental discovery: A cure for baldness. OK, only in mice. Still, the finding - involving a chemical compound that blocks a stress hormone - could lead to human hair loss treatments, the scientists say. The researchers have applied for a patent on the use of the compound for hair growth. "This could open new venues to treat hair loss in humans through the modulation of the stress hormone receptors, particularly hair loss related to chronic stress and aging," said Million Mulugeta, an adjunct professor of medicine...

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