Mouse researchers conducting stress hormone experiments have stumbled onto a surprising new discovery — a potential treatment for hair loss.
Scientists at the University of California, Los Angeles, and the Department of Veterans Affairs were working with genetically altered mice that typically develop head-to-tail baldness as a result of overproducing a stress hormone.
The experiment was designed to study a chemical compound that blocks the effects of stress on the gut, but after treating the mice, scientists were surprised to discover all of the mice had full heads and backs of hair.
The serendipitous discovery was reported Wednesday in the online medical journal PLoS One.
Dr. Melissa Piliang, a dermatologist at the Cleveland Clinic, cautioned that the findings of a mouse study may not be applicable to humans, but she said that the results may spur more study of the role stress might play in human hair loss.
