Category Archives: Fat Cells

Dr. Valerie Horsley, Dr. Craig Ziering, Fat Cells and Hair Growth

In recent years, various researchers have found a strong connection between hair cells and fat cells and their communication with each other. I covered some of this in a post from last year.

Dr. Valerie Horsley

A year or so ago, I bookmarked a video from Dr. Valerie Horsley regarding the link between fat cells and hair cells on the scalp that I wanted to post on this blog, but postponed doing so after visiting the Horsley Laboratory (at Yale University) website and not seeing much on hair loss research developments in the news page. I was waiting to post that video as part of a longer post also covering a recent news development, and today is finally the day. First, since the video cannot be embedded, here is the link to it.

You can also read more about the Horsley Lab’s findings here. Apparently, fat cells in the skin “talk” to hair cells and this communication is necessary to induce hair growth. The lab’s researchers are trying to find ways to re-enable this communication and perhaps grow back hair in balding regions.

Dr. Craig Ziering

Now as far as the recent news development goes, it is not a newspaper item, but rather, an interesting new addition to a well known hair transplant surgeon’s product offerings.  Dr. Craig Ziering, who is based in the US, seems to have recently updated his UK website, and one of the pages on there (Edit: no longer there) was quite a surprise to me.  Dr. Ziering has apparently invented a trademarked “STEMULATION” device to separate stem cells from extracted body fat, which are then injected into the scalp to aid hair growth. The webpage is not complete yet (a lot of “lorem ipsum” placeholder text in there), and there is not much on the page about studies that support this new procedure. It also seems like the contents of that webpage disappeared and came back and then disappeared yet again and then got moved somewhere else and then disappeared again from the new location (I got some of these updates in the hair loss chat on this site)! I am skeptical about this whole thing, but the EU has given Dr. Ziering a CE Mark that is required to sell or market a medical device.

Link Between Hair Cells and Fat Cells may Lead to Fat Dissolving Cream

Hair loss researchers have in recent years published a few studies related to the link between fat cells and hair cells. In the latest findings, a new research paper by Dr. Fiona Watt, Dr. Rodney Sinclair and others concluded that epidermal Wnt/β-catenin is a critical initiator of a signaling cascade. This induces adipogenesis, and:

Highlights the importance of epidermal Wnt signaling in synchronizing adipocyte differentiation with the hair growth cycle.

Fat Dissolving Cream

Apparently, the implications of this work are that a fat dissolving cream could soon be invented.

Of course most of us are interested in the hair loss aspect of this research and not too concerned about the fat cells link. However, excessive fat/obesity is now becoming as common as baldness in men, and is in fact far more common than baldness in women. Many obese people do not eat too much and are not lazy as often depicted in the media.

Rather, their genetics and hormonal makeup often makes it close to impossible for them to loose and keep too much weight off.  Even with their best effort to exercise and limit caloric intake daily, some people will always be 50 pounds overweight.

It is therefore not surprising that the same pathways examined in prior hair loss related research are now being examined in order to potentially develop a blockbuster fat dissolving cream.

Unfortunately, even if developed, such a cream would not aid in reducing the more dangerous excessive visceral fat around our essential organs. The fat that would be reduced is the less dangerous subcutaneous fat, which is cosmetically distressing for a lot of people.