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Accidental Find May Lead To a Cure For Baldness

Posted by Soulskill on from the make-it-so dept.

kkleiner writes "Science is full of stories in which great discoveries are made by accident: the discovery of radiation, the discovery of the universe's shape through x-ray detection, and now perhaps the cure for hair loss. At the time they returned to the cages to find that their bald mice had miraculously grown their hair back, the scientists at UCLA had no intention of curing baldness. Originally, theirs was in fact a study aimed at reducing the harmful affects of chronic stress. The unanticipated side effect of their treatment could prove a boon to balding men and women everywhere, not to mention to the drug company that delivers the cure to them."

23 of 404 comments (clear)

  1. Shocked. Simply SHOCKED. by Frosty+Piss · · Score: 3, Funny

    PETA will have a field day with this one, what with causing artificial stress in the mice to the point where they start losing hair? Think of their self esteem, think of premature heart attacks and strokes...

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    1. Re:Shocked. Simply SHOCKED. by Kozar_The_Malignant · · Score: 3, Funny

      The lucky grad students are the ones that don't get stuck with the night job in the Rat Room. No amount of washing will diminish the smell to the point of your being able to get a date. Your only hope is if the poor soul curating the dead shark collection is of the opposite sex.

      --
      Some mornings it's hardly worth chewing through the restraints to get out of bed.
    2. Re:Shocked. Simply SHOCKED. by ThePromenader · · Score: 3, Informative

      How and when you lose your hair is determined before birth (through a fetus' genes and the 'correctness' of homone programming during development (xx chromosomes should get estrogen, xy should get tetesterone). Every hair on your body will grow/fall an x number of times. Men with more tetesterone lose their hair sooner, and men with less keep a full head of hair until later in life, if they lose it at all. This has been scientific fact since the 1970's - I really don't understand why this is not common knowledge yet (perhaps so people will continue falling for those bullsh*t "hair recovery" commercials).

      So when a man goes bald, the hair follicle is still there, it's just not producing hair anymore. According to TFA, researchers have managed to chemically 'trick' the follicle into producing hair again - but this will last only as long as the chemical is present; in its absence, the body will go back to its 'normal' pre-programmed (bald) state. In other words, if you stop taking the drug, you lose your hair.

      This sounds like $$$ to me.

      --

      No, no sig. Really.

      ThePromenader
  2. Uh, don't we maybe NEED that hormone? by elrous0 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    This treatment works by restricting a hormone that helps regulate our stress levels. Isn't it maybe a bad idea to go fucking around with that just because we want a full head of hair?

    Just a thought.

    --
    SJW: Someone who has run out of real oppression, and has to fake it.
    1. Re:Uh, don't we maybe NEED that hormone? by CastrTroy · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Meh, million of women mess around with their hormones every month just as a method of birth control, even though much more successful methods exist, and even though many (non-manogamous) should probably be using other methods anyway to protect against diseases. Most people have no problem with stuffing their body full of chemicals, especially when it's prescribe by a "doctor" or in a tasty meal.

      --

      Anthropic principle: We see the universe the way it is because if it were different we would not be here to see it.
    2. Re:Uh, don't we maybe NEED that hormone? by Wyatt+Earp · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Not to mention athletes, body builders, and people like myself who get to adjust male hormones, if you do it with the right chemicals in the right doses, farking around with hormones isn't a problem.

      Before I got my current treatment regimen going, I was at 39 ng/dl when normal total testosterone levels range from 300 - 1000 ng/dl

      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypogonadism

    3. Re:Uh, don't we maybe NEED that hormone? by ShavedOrangutan · · Score: 4, Insightful

      The current treatment (Propecia) restricts testosterone. I tried that and it completely eliminated my sex drive. After 8 months, I stopped, but I swear my drive never come back 100% and my hair fell out anyways. So yeah, going bald sucks but messing with your hormones is much worse.

      --
      Godaddy is a scam and a ripoff.
    4. Re:Uh, don't we maybe NEED that hormone? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

      Abstinence has been working for millions of Slashdot readers for years.

    5. Re:Uh, don't we maybe NEED that hormone? by gad_zuki! · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Err, stress literally kills. The hormones it produces are toxic. A significant amount of people are stressed all the time and its only made worse by the 24/7 society.

      Unlike our hunter-gatherer ancestors, we aren't sitting in the sun all day. We're not getting a short high stress event (killing an animal) and then relaxing the rest of the day. We're not getting this level of downtime anymore and chronic stress is common. Heck, Americans barely get vacation days.

      Your society, your city, your processed food, your vitamin enriched food, the vaccines in your blood, etc are all technology that has nothing to do with how evolution shaped us for so long. Of course, we should be addressing stress, the same way we address horrible urban conditions with germ theory, cleaning, better sewage, soaps, and antibiotics.

      Its a luddite position to think that your body and mind are well suited for modern living and anything controlling that is "unnatural." Its a luddite who says we shouldnt be playing with this. This pandora's box was opened long ago. Appeals to "the natural man" are a fallacy for this reason.

      Adding relaxation techniques into your life can make such a significant change its not even funny. Its incredible how much stress we take for granted. Its not normal, its not healthy, and it is a problem. I'm very excited by this research. I hate the idea that its 100% socially acceptable to be a caffeine addict workaholic, but once we start talking about relaxation, downtime, stress, etc suddenly we're all so careful!

    6. Re:Uh, don't we maybe NEED that hormone? by Mongoose+Disciple · · Score: 3, Funny

      Hey, you have to break a few eggs to make an omelet with a gorgeous full head of hair.

    7. Re:Uh, don't we maybe NEED that hormone? by PCM2 · · Score: 4, Informative

      Condoms, lower failure rate.

      Actually, that's not true. According to this data, women on the contraceptive pill experienced less than half the number of unplanned pregnancies than women who used condoms alone. Combining the two is pretty darn effective. Contraceptive pills also do nothing to limit the spread of disease.

      --
      Breakfast served all day!
    8. Re:Uh, don't we maybe NEED that hormone? by hedwards · · Score: 4, Informative

      Unfortunately, it's might not be your imagination. Hair loss drug linked to less libido, ED To be honest, that possibility wasn't even on my list of things to consider when I opted not to treat my baldness.

    9. Re:Uh, don't we maybe NEED that hormone? by PCM2 · · Score: 3, Informative

      Many women report the same from contraceptive pills. They can't get pregnant; the irony is that once they start the pills, they have no interest in sex. There are many different types of pills, and it's possible that women who find their libido affected by one kind can find another that doesn't affect it, but working your way through the options can be a laborious process -- and since you don't have any real desire for sex anyway, it doesn't seem like much of a priority (at least, not until you look back on the last year and think, "wait a minute...").

      --
      Breakfast served all day!
    10. Re:Uh, don't we maybe NEED that hormone? by PopeRatzo · · Score: 3, Insightful

      I hate the idea that its 100% socially acceptable to be a caffeine addict workaholic, but once we start talking about relaxation, downtime, stress, etc suddenly we're all so careful!

      Caffeine addict workaholics make soft-drink manufacturers, Starbucks and CEO's very rich.

      The only one that gets rich when you learn tai chi or some other stress reduction technique is you. And it's not the kind of "rich" that our society generally recognizes.

      --
      You are welcome on my lawn.
    11. Re:Uh, don't we maybe NEED that hormone? by Malc · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Our predecessors had an average life expectancy approaching 80 years did they? That's right: if I keel over with a stress induced heart attack or stroke at 40 years old, I've still lived longer than the stress free peoples you're talking about. What's your point?

    12. Re:Uh, don't we maybe NEED that hormone? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful

      She obviously skip the pills to get you to marry her. But if lies make you happy, congratulation.

  3. One day... by damburger · · Score: 3, Funny

    ...there will be a simple, over-the-counter cure for baldness.

    And then, on the following day, a drunk college student will pass out and have the formula smeared all over his face by his almost equally drunk 'friends'

    --
    If we can put a man on the moon, why can't we shoot people for Apollo-related non-sequiturs?
  4. Re:Socialists find the answers that Capitalists ca by damburger · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Playing devils advocate, public funded research could be consider an integral part of a capitalist society, and something capitalists support?

    --
    If we can put a man on the moon, why can't we shoot people for Apollo-related non-sequiturs?
  5. Re:Hair Loss? by rolfwind · · Score: 5, Funny

    Ditch your palms and buy an iPhone or Android. It's not worth the bother cleaning them up.

  6. Missing info... by thePowerOfGrayskull · · Score: 5, Informative
    This has nothing to do with male pattern baldness despite the grand title. It only allows showed the hair loss specifically related to stress to be reversed -- which actually can also happen on its own if you remove the stressor(s) that are causing it to occur.

    http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/stress-and-hair-loss/AN01442

  7. Re:Socialists find the answers that Capitalists ca by pushing-robot · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Or perhaps "capitalist societies" and "socialist societies" don't exist outside of textbooks, because real societies always contain some degree of each?

    --
    How can I believe you when you tell me what I don't want to hear?
  8. Won't someone think of the money, er animals! by ackthpt · · Score: 4, Insightful

    PETA will have a field day with this one, what with causing artificial stress in the mice to the point where they start losing hair? Think of their self esteem, think of premature heart attacks and strokes...

    The trauma to female mice .. when they see these bald mice returning to the general population with great big pompadours and new-found confidence, "Hey, Baby, come over to my corner of the cage tonight and we'll split some cheese."

    --

    A feeling of having made the same mistake before: Deja Foobar
  9. Re:Cosmetic cures no one really needs by ChrisMaple · · Score: 3, Insightful

    I predict this will be massively funded and become a major hit among the gloriously over paid. Elsewhere people die from measles and AIDS everyday because they can't cough up enough green.

    Your argument applies to anything a person buys beyond whatever he needs to keep alive.

    I reject your morality that demands that I consider anyone else superior to my own life. I cordially invite you to drop dead.

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