Scientists studying hair follicles in mice may have finally uncovered a mechanism behind how and why hair turns gray, which could one day lead to potential new ways to stop or reverse the process.
On a basic level, we already know that hair goes gray when specialized pigment-producing cells called melanocytes are in short supply. But we still don't fully understand why or how that happens – or if there's a way to prevent it.
In tests on mice, after a forced aging process the number of hair follicles with McSCs lodged in the follicle bulge increased from 15 percent to almost half. It seems this TA state is important for McSC health and the continuing production of hair color, but the team found that being able to switch into TA mode depends on signals from specific locations – which the cells get cut off from when they're stuck in follicle bulges.All of this still needs to be observed in human hair follicles of course, but it's possible that the same mechanisms are at play in our own hair.
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