A chemical is the key to controlling when hair follicle cells divide and when they die. This discovery can not only cure baldness, but also ultimately accelerate wound healing, because hair follicles are the source of stem cells.

Most cells in the human body have a specific shape and function during embryonic development and will not change. For example, blood cells cannot become nerve cells, and vice versa. However, stem cells are like blank tiles in Scrabble; They can become other types of cells.

Their adaptability enables them to help repair damaged tissues or organs.

Wang Qixuan, a mathematical biologist at the University of California Riverside and co-author of the study, said: “in science fiction, when characters can recover quickly after injury, people’s ideas are allowed by stem cells.”

“In real life, our new research brings us closer to understanding the behavior of stem cells, so that we can control it and promote wound healing,” Wang said. Details of the study were published recently in the Journal of biophysics.

The liver and stomach regenerate themselves after injury. However, the reason why Wang’s team studied hair follicles is that they are the only human organs that automatically regenerate periodically, even if there is no damage.

Researchers have determined how a protein called TGF beta controls the process of hair follicle cells, including stem cells, dividing and forming new cells, or controls their own death – ultimately leading to the death of the entire hair follicle.

“TGF beta has two opposite roles. It helps activate some hair follicle cells to produce new life, and then it helps coordinate the process of cell apoptosis, that is, cell death,” Wang said.

Like many chemicals, it is the difference in quantity that makes the difference. If cells produce a certain amount of TGF- β, It activates cell division. Excess will lead to apoptosis.

No one is completely sure why hair follicles commit suicide. Some hypotheses suggest that this is a genetic feature of animals shedding fur in order to survive in the hot summer or try to disguise.

“Even if the hair follicle kills itself, it will not kill its own stem cell bank. When the surviving stem cells receive a regeneration signal, they will divide, produce new cells, and develop into new follicles.”

If scientists can determine TGF more accurately- β It is possible to activate hair follicle stem cells and stimulate hair growth by activating the way cells divide and how this chemical communicates with other important genes.