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 

Minoxidil for balding?

Went for Miss Singapore Universe Gala dinner last weekend and one of the awards given out was Miss Crowning Glory. 18 year-old Amanda Leong bagged the prize.

 Amanda Leong, 1st runner up and Miss Crowning Glory of MSU 2011.

That reminded me of the bottle of Minoxidil I have sitting at home. Well, unlike Miss Leong, I have very thin and fine hair. A few months back, I consulted a skin specialist and asked if there is anything I could do to have fuller hair. I was prescribed with 5% Minoxidil and told to use it religiously twice daily everyday for the rest of my life. After 2 weeks, I gave up because I found it made my hair too oily.

However I thought I should share this article:

Here, the researchers compared the efficacy, safety, and acceptability of once daily application of 5% minoxidil topical foam (MTF) with twice-daily 2% MTS in women with hair loss problems.

113 women with female version of male-pattern baldness were given either 5% or 2% MTS for 24 weeks. The researchers conclude that once-daily application of 5% MTF just as effective as twice-daily 2% MTS, in promoting hair growth and increasing hair width.


Do note that this study was supported by a medical grant from Johnson & Johnson Consumer Co Inc. Dr Blume-Peytavi is a consultant for Johnson & Johnson Consumer Co Inc and Dr Garcia Bartels was a consultant for Pfizer GmbH Germany until 2008.

Take home message: According to this study, 5% Minoxidil once daily works. HOWEVER, my skeptical scientist brain still finds it a bit dubious. The exact mechanism of how Minoxidil works is unknown, and there has yet to be any (long enough) study on its long term effects.

Nonetheless, finding a treatment for balding is a very lucrative topic of research and there's much going on in the labs world wide. Will keep you updated on the latest advances! Have faith, ladies and gentlemen, one day we'll all have hair like JLo and Lucy Liu.

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P.S. Anyway, I decided to start trying out the Minoxidil again. Experiment on myself!