Fat cells help hair to grow

Manchester United Striker Wayne Rooney had a hair transplant to combat his receding hairline

With all that $kaching$ and fame and prowess on the field, who would have thought that Rooney concerns himself over hair! But yes, having more hair certainly makes one feel more confident. Man U won 8-2 against arsenal in a league game. Hello?!?!

Up close with your hair

Illustration of how it looks like at the root of a strand of hair. Source: hairrestorationadvice.com

Hair Growth Cycle. Source: womentowomen.com

A full cycle can lasts between 2-5 years per follicle. Unusual hair loss and thinning occur when a follicle is stuck in the telogen or resting phase. Bald spots occur when a large group of follicles turn off in one place.

Fat cells secrete chemicals that helps hair grow

According to a report on BBC news, fat cells in the skin have been identified as the source of chemicals needed to make hair grow.

A study carried out by Prof Valerie Horsley and her team at Yale University suggested that hair stem cells were controlled by fat. Injecting a type of fat cell stimulated hair growth in mice which otherwise struggled to grow hair.


Their work, published in the journal Cell, showed that:
1) Defective mice which could not produce fat cells. The hair follicles had become trapped in the dormant phase of the hair cycle.
2) When fat cells from healthy mice were injected into defective mice, hair follicles started to grow after 2 weeks.
3) Precursor fat cells produce a chemical - a platelet-derived growth factor (PDGF) - at 100 times the level of surrounding cells.
4) Injecting PDGF into the skin of defective mice kicks-start growth in 86% of follicles.



It'll be interesting to see if PDGF affects hair growth in humans, or if other factors secreted by these precursor fat cells can help stimulate hair growth. I look forward to further great work from the lab of Prof Horsley! 


Hmm... I have a few tubes of PDGF in the lab... tempting.... ;P