Gray hair can have beneficial effects you might not expect.

Gray hair is one of those signals that our body uses to warn us about the passage of time. True, they do not always do this at the same time. Some people reach old age with some of their hair still retaining its original color, while others only develop gray hair in their 30s. For social and cultural reasons that are about to be overthrown, for men it can make them look like interesting mature people, but for women it is considered a sign of neglect. Leaving aside how unfair this is, the reality is that appearance of gray hair It is usually quite feared, so knowing that it can be the result of a beneficial action is at least a consolation.

This is what was recently demonstrated by a group of scientists from Tokyo University with research conducted IN THE MOUSE. We need to take this into account because it is too early to say whether this can be replicated in humans.

Anyway, this is very interesting because these scientists saw that gray hair in mice is the result of a cellular reaction in which prevents the appearance of melanoma. If the same thing happened to humans, it is clear that it would give us a reason to happily embrace our gray hairs.

Why does gray hair appear?

Gray hair is hair whose follicle has lost melanin. It is the pigment that gives color to our skin as well as our hair. It is usually synthesized in large quantities in response to solar radiation because, being a dark pigment, It absorbs them before they reach the DNA. The problem is that everything has a limit, just like melanin, so no matter how much of it is produced, there comes a point when DNA damage is inevitable. You can try to repair this damage, but over time its accumulation can lead to the appearance of melanoma.

Be that as it may, melanin is not always present in the skin. Sometimes it can be found in the follicles, also giving color to the hair. When it is lost, the hair turns gray.

Melanin is produced by cells called melanocytes, which die at the end of each hair growth cycle. However, this is not a problem since the follicle also contains some stem cells capable of differentiating into melanocytes or multiply to increase its reserves and at this point also differentiate into more melanocytes.

This renewal occurs in the hair very effectively up to the age of 30. However, starting at this age, and sometimes earlier, some of these stem cells are lost, so the hair loses melanocytes, and along with them, melanin. This is how gray hair appears.

As we can see, this simply happens over time, but there are factors that can speed up this process, such as: stress. We all know someone who His hair turned gray from stress.

What does all this have to do with cancer?

The authors of this study wanted to test how DNA damage to melanocytes affects hair color. To do this, they took a group of mice and exposed them to different situations that can lead to certain types of skin cancer, such as melanoma.

They noticed that by producing DNA double strand breaksthose that are associated with aging and cancer over time, melanocyte stem cells (McSCs) differentiated and therefore disappeared for a new turn. This is important. Stem cells have the ability differentiate or multiply. Once differentiated, they become adult cells and cannot revert back naturally. Each stem cell that differentiates and performs its function is one less stem cell. So it ends up being appearance of gray hairbecause cells capable of synthesizing melanin disappear.

Contrary to what happens in this process, the study authors saw that when exposed to certain carcinogenic agents, stem cells did not follow this path but instead multiplied. Uncontrolled spread may end tumor development. Therefore, the appearance of gray hair was the result of better management of DNA damage.

What’s the point of knowing all this about gray hair?

These results are interesting and, as we expected, they could help us get rid of gray hair if they were extrapolated to humans. However, it is too early to talk about something like that. In contrast, in their statement, the study authors state that “by identifying the molecular circuits that drive this fate bifurcation, the study provides a conceptual framework that links tissue aging and cancer, and highlights the beneficial role of eliminating potentially harmful stem cells through this differentiation, resulting in cancer protective phenotype“

This is an interesting fact to understand better. how does melanoma develop. In any case, although this was only done on mice, we also have reasons to embrace our gray hair if we want it, just as we have reasons to dye it if we want it, regardless of whether we are men or women. Gray hair has the same function for everyone.