Dermal Sheath Contraction, Lymphatic System and Hair Loss

There were three important developments in the world of hair loss in December 2019 that I did not cover in separate posts. This is becasue all of them entail findings that are yet to translate into any kind of clinical trials.

Dermal Sheath Contraction and Hair Loss

Dr. Michael Rendl and his team at the Icahn School of Medicine in New York discovered that preventing the dermal sheath smooth muscle from contracting could stop hair loss. In future, a drug could prevent such muscle contraction and one would never shed hair.

The best way to avoid androgenetic alopecia (AGA) is to stop hair from falling out in the first place. This treatment of blocking contraction of the sheath muscle has the potential to do just that in the future. Actual study here. The scientists discovered that the dermal sheath’s function is to contract and push up the hair shaft and pull up the dermal papilla cells (towards the stem cells).

Lymphatic System Involved in Hair Loss

Another renowned hair loss researcher from New York that I have covered in the past is Dr. Elaine Fuchs. In December, her team at Rockefeller University found that the lymphatic system plays a key role in hair regeneration.

Hair follicle stem cells control the behavior of lymphatic capillaries. This discovery can lead to new therapeutic targets for lymph-related conditions, including wound-healing defects and hair loss. Actual study here.

CRISPR/Cas9 Delivery System for AGA

Also in December 2019, South Korean scientists published an important paper on using CRISPR/Cas9 to treat androgenetic alopecia. They used ultrasound delivery and activation of nanoliposomal particles. The researchers successfully transferred protein constructs into hair follicle dermal papilla cells.

There are very few studies on the use of CRISPR and gene therapy (or gene modification) to treat hair loss. Hopefully, this will start to change in the near future. Most scientists are interested in using CRISPR to treat medical problems rather than cosmetic ones. It will always be easier to get government approval for the former rather than the latter.

16 thoughts on “Dermal Sheath Contraction, Lymphatic System and Hair Loss”

  1. I read that paper too, and it mentioned that that dermal sheath contraction was mediated by calcium channels, which made me wonder if this explains the mechanism of action for minoxidil.

  2. Wouldn’t botox essential paralyze that muscle so it won’t shed hair?

    As for fuchs….man I remember reading about her in 2001 when I was freshman in college. She was on the cutting edge of hair cloning and growing hair on her arm. 20 years later and she hasn’t developed a freaking thing. Just a researcher collectING grant money to pay her mortgage.

  3. Well, right now I am 25 years old … and in my frontal area I already begin to observe the shortage of hair, I still do not look bald but my forehead is already wide and my entries in the hair quite visible and with low density .. How optimistic can I be with a future cure before I get completely bald? … or what steps can I take to avoid looking disastrous before they can find a cure?

    1. Take finasteride and hope you are one of the lucky responders that means it will stop you losing anymore for 10 years or more; by which time there should be something better available.
      Don’t bother with PRP or laser caps. Waste of money. If anyone else tries to convince you to take any other “experimental” stuff, demand before-and-after video proof from them; it usually kills the conversation stone dead.

      1. Ok bro… He visto que algunos recuperan densidad con finasteride…pero me asusta un poco por los efectos secundarios…Ire con un dermatólogo, ¿Creen que mi zona frontal mejore por lo menos un poco con finasteride?

  4. I agree with Scott. Hop on fin. 80% chance it works for you and you maintain and have some regrowth for the 10 years or so. I started fin 1mg daily sophomore year of college when I was started to shed heavily. 1month into fin shedding halted and I maintained nw1.5 for 12 years years. I regrew some hair on top the first two years but nothing crazy. I also used Nizoral as well all those years. I added Rogaine foam at the 12th year mark since my hair started thinning again. It works but not as well as fin. I’m at a nw 2.5 3 diffuse now. Hoping for something new to come out to get my hair back to thicker nw 1.5 again. Don’t hold your breath on a real cure. It won’t happen for many many years. Fuchs and Christiano said in 2002 that hair cloning will be out in 2010 and gene therapy in 2020 lol. It’s 2020 and we have nothing new at all except prp scams. So please hop on fin, ignore the horror stories. You will thank me. Wait 2 years before you use Rogaine to allow full benefits of Propecia.

  5. We already have the cure for baldness … it’s called finasteride + minoxidil … nothing serious will come out anytime soon … for that we have to wait at least 10 years. Admin please change the name of this blog …

  6. Lorence it’s not a cute at all. It’s bad but it does work to maintain if you start early. Like nw1-2 level. You can hold off balding for 10 years. However, our androgens become more sensitive as we age and it stops working well. A cure would be nw7 to nw1 thick dense hair. We don’t have this available. Maybe some lucky .0000001% of big three users reversed their hairloss completely.

  7. I am currently Norwood 2.5 but with low density in the frontal area … I have never undergone any treatment for fear of the side effects of finasteride, but now I am seriously considering it, I have even read some good things about Saw Palmetto, I think I will start my desire soon at this time would be to recover a little density in the frontal area, I wish I could do it using finasteride and minoxodil, I wish I could respond well to the treatment and that my hair was maintained for at least 5 more years.

  8. Dr. Michael Rendl by the way is also on the advisory board of Stemson Tx.

    A lot of competence accumulating in California.

    @admin: would be great to get some news from Terskikh, are you in contact?

    1. Hi Ben, I conducted an interview with him in the past, but he has been way too busy recently. He told me that he would give another interview after things get rolling later this year.

  9. Got a response to an organ technologies inquiry:

    This is Organ Technologies.
    Thank you very much for your inquiry.

    The next press release of the human clinical application is not planing now.
    We are conducting research to provide patients with our technology
    as you have expected.
    I am sorry to hear that you will respond to your expectations,
    but I would be pleased if you can understand it.

    We will encourage our employees to use words from you
    and we will make every effort to realize it as soon as possible.
    Thank you very much for message.

    Best regards,

    Organ Technologies Inc.

    Anyone else got a similar response?

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