Researchers Accidently Reverse Baldness, Alopecia in Mice

[gmonasco]

Good news for bald mice: A five-day treatment can restore a silky black coat of fur. But it will be a while before the hair-raising drug -- accidently discovered by University of California, Los Angeles scientists studying gut function -- is ready to be tested in humans.

http://abcnews.go.com/Health/Wellnes...ry?id=12932070

[fontanajul]

Spencer should totally get the doctor responsible for this study on baldtruth radio!!! Here's the link to his info =)

http://www.cns.med.ucla.edu/Bios/MulugetaM.htm

-Max

[Winston]

This is an amazing discovery that can have so many applications. Who knows, it might even unlock the mystery of alopecia areata. This is big news!

[UK_]

Hey thats great news.

But the mice were "stressed mice" so clearly they cleared the stress and the hair went back to its normal growth phase - I cant get my head around the importance of this study/research. Clearly if one is stressed and the stress is tackled hair returns to normal (we know that) they have merely stumbled upon ANOTHER mechanism to turn off stress.

[gmonasco]

I'm about to give up hoping for a cure for (human) hair loss in favor of hoping for a technology that will turn me into a mouse.

[Winston]

I'm about to give up hoping for a cure for (human) hair loss in favor of hoping for a technology that will turn me into a mouse.

LOL! Now that was funny!

[Thinning@30]

In all seriousness, I am so sick and tired of the idiotic "Cure for Baldness Discovered!!" headlines that always pop everytime someone makes a new discovery about hair loss. The reality is that it will take years of testing to see if something like this would be an effective hair loss treatment in humans.

From what I've read, pattern baldness is limited to humans and handful of other primates, so it is very hard to conduct animal studies on baldness treatments. That said, I thought one of the unique aspects of this study was that the mice were bred to have pattern baldness, which might make the results more applicable to people.

[UK_]

In all seriousness, I am so sick and tired of the idiotic "Cure for Baldness Discovered!!" headlines that always pop everytime someone makes a new discovery about hair loss. The reality is that it will take years of testing to see if something like this would be an effective hair loss treatment in humans.

From what I've read, pattern baldness is limited to humans and handful of other primates, so it is very hard to conduct animal studies on baldness treatments. That said, I thought one of the unique aspects of this study was that the mice were bred to have pattern baldness, which might make the results more applicable to people.

Believe me... I feel your anger lol - but I guess on the plus side... if there ARE any stressed mice out there then they need worry no more!...

[gmonasco]

Believe me... I feel your anger lol - but I guess on the plus side... if there ARE any stressed mice out there then they need worry no more!...

And I still have yet to see a mouse so distressed about his hair loss that he opted for a hair system or transplant. Most of them just deal with it.

[RichardDawkins]

My bet is still on Histogen