Scientists may have discovered what causes hair to turn grey after stem cell research

Scientists believe they have discovered the mechanism for hair turning grey, which could help develop treatment to alter cells in order to reverse or halt the process – which could be fabulous news for those of us tired of rushing to buy hair dye in order to look younger.

The pioneering new study suggests stem cells may get stuck as hair ages and accordingly lose their ability to mature and maintain hair colour.

Certain stem cells – which are able to develop into many different cell types – have a unique ability to transition between growth compartments in follicles.

These cells lose the ability to move with age, resulting in greyness.

The research focused on cells in the skin of mice and also found in humans called melanocyte stem cells, or McSCs.

Hair colour is determined by these pigment-producing melanocytes.

The scientists, led by researchers from New York University Grossman school of medicine, suggested that if their findings hold true for humans they could open up what really would be a holy grail – a potential way to reverse or prevent grey hair without reaching for the appropriate dye.

The study’s lead investigator, Qi Sun, a postdoctoral fellow at NYU Langone Health, commented on the research: “The newfound mechanisms raise the possibility that the same fixed-positioning of melanocyte stem cells may exist in humans.

“If so, it presents a potential pathway for reversing or preventing the greying of human hair by helping jammed cells to move again between developing hair follicle compartments.”

Hair colour is controlled by whether continually multiplying pools of McSCs within hair follicles get the signal to become mature cells that make the protein pigments responsible for colour.

Researchers found that during normal hair growth the cells continually pivot between compartments of the developing hair follicle.

It is inside these compartments where McSCs are exposed to signals that influence maturity.

Researchers found that McSCs transform between their most primitive stem cell state and the next stage of their maturation, depending on their location.

According to the findings, as hair ages, sheds, and then repeatedly grows back, increasing numbers of McSCs get stuck in the stem cell compartment called the hair follicle bulge, where they remain.

A senior investigator on the study, Mayumi Ito, said: “It is the loss of chameleon-like function in melanocyte stem cells that may be responsible for greying and loss of hair colour.”

Other studies show that stress, and not just ageing, can cause you to produce grey hair due to an increase in the body’s fight or flight response when we sense danger or are beset by anxiety.

Scientists have already shown that stress also leads to the loss of pigment-producing stem cells (MsSCs) in mice.

This is because stress causes the release of the chemical norepinephrine into the follicle.

Norepinephrine affects the melanocyte stem cells living there, causing them to rapidly turn into pigment cells and move out of the hair follicles.

Without stem cells left to create new pigment cells, new hair turns grey or white.

As researchers learn more about how the greying process happens, they may soon be able to develop effective medications and treatments for grey hair. We can but hope.