TD, If you are already bald, you need to take an anti-estrogen (LGND has anti-estrogens also):
Baldness may be linked to female hormone
RALEIGH, N.C. - Researchers using mice to examine a pesticide's effects on skin cancer also
developed data they say indicates baldness may be linked to the presence of a female hormone, not the absence of a male one.
Dr. Robert Smart and graduate assistant Hye-Sun Oh were studying the pesticide's impact when
they found that the shaved skin of mice grew hair when treated with an estrogen blocker.
"Estrogen was playing some fundamental role in skin biology," Smart said.
The discovery by the North Carolina State University researchers was published in the Tuesday,
Oct. 29, 1996, edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
The discovery is being tested for possible application in humans, but any commercial use could be
five years away, Smart said.
Smart said the studies also provided insights into skin cancer, but an scientist who wasn't involved in the research said it was too soon to suggest the data may lead to cures for either condition.
"It may well be that whatever effect estrogen has is going to be much more significant in the mouse than the human," said Dr. Barbara Gilchrest, chairwoman of the dermatology department at Boston University.
Another researcher said the finding is a good start for understanding hair loss conditions.
"What's interesting and frustrating about the hair follicle is it requires the interaction of a lot of signals.
This is such a clear demonstration of an agent that it's new and it's exciting," said Dr. Ulrike Lichti, hair follicle investigator at the National Cancer Institute.
Smart said the estrogen blocker acts as a switch to turn on hair growth in the lab mice. He said
research to determine if the same switch exists in humans is underway at Wake Forest University's
Bowman-Gray School of Medicine.
Scientists have known that cells at the base of the hair follicle, called dermal papilla cells, regulate the follicle growth and resting periods. But no one knew why. Smart said his research points to a
reason.
"In the follicle itself, what we're observing is one particular cell type is being influenced by estrogen and it is influencing the growth of another cell type," Smart said.
Past research into hair growth has focused on male hormones, or androgens.
"People believed that androgens were very important in regulating hair growth," Smart said. "In
beard and whisker growth, that's important, but when one talks about hair growth on top of our
head, it doesn't necessarily hold. Androgens do play a role, but for all the research that has been
done the outcome is not as successful as we would like." |
