| HOME | HELP | FEEDBACK | SUBSCRIPTIONS | ARCHIVE | SEARCH | TABLE OF CONTENTS |
|
|
|
|||||||
|
|||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
,1
* Cutaneous Neuroimmunology, Biomedical Research Center, University Medicine Charité, Virchow and Mitte Campus;
Psychoneuroimmunology, Biomedical Research Center, University Medicine Charité, Virchow Campus; and
Internal Medicine, Psychosomatics, University Medicine Charité, Mitte Campus, Humboldt-University of Berlin, Berlin, Germany; and
Dermatology, Medical School, University of Newcastle, UK
1Correspondence: Biomedical Research Center, Rm. Nr. 2.0549, University Medicine Charité, Virchow Campus, Humboldt University of Berlin, Augustenburger Platz 1, Berlin 13353, Germany. E-mail: eva.peters{at}charite.de or frl_peters{at}yahoo.com
ABSTRACT
Oxidative stress is generated by a multitude of environmental and endogenous challenges such as radiation, inflammation, or psychoemotional stress. It also speeds the aging process. Graying is a prominent but little understood feature of aging. Intriguingly, the continuous melanin synthesis in the growing (anagen) hair follicle generates high oxidative stress. We therefore hypothesize that hair bulb melanocytes are especially susceptible to free radical-induced aging. To test this hypothesis, we subjected human scalp skin anagen hair follicles from graying individuals to macroscopic and immunohistomorphometric analysis and organ culture. We found evidence of melanocyte apoptosis and increased oxidative stress in the pigmentary unit of graying hair follicles. The "common" deletion, a marker mitochondrial DNA-deletion for accumulating oxidative stress damage, occurred most prominently in graying hair follicles. Cultured unpigmented hair follicles grew better than pigmented follicles of the same donors. Finally, cultured pigmented hair follicles exposed to exogenous oxidative stress (hydroquinone) showed increased melanocyte apoptosis in the hair bulb. We conclude that oxidative stress is high in hair follicle melanocytes and leads to their selective premature aging and apoptosis. The graying hair follicle, therefore, offers a unique model system to study oxidative stress and aging and to test antiaging therapeutics in their ability to slow down or even stop this process.—Arck, P. C., Overall, R., Spatz, K., Liezman, C., Handjiski, B., Klapp, B. F., Birch-Machin, M. A., Peters, E. M. J. Towards a "free radical theory of graying": melanocyte apoptosis in the aging human hair follicle is an indicator of oxidative stress induced tissue damage.
This article has been cited by other articles:
|
|
 |
|
  J. M. Wood, H. Decker, H. Hartmann, B. Chavan, H. Rokos, J. D. Spencer, S. Hasse, M. J. Thornton, M. Shalbaf, R. Paus, et al. Senile hair graying: H2O2-mediated oxidative stress affects human hair color by blunting methionine sulfoxide repair FASEB J, July 1, 2009; 23(7): 2065 - 2075. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
G. Weissmann Apply directly to the forehead: Holmes, Nana, and hennapecia FASEB J, April 1, 2007; 21(4): 963 - 965. [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 K. C. Kregel and H. J. Zhang An integrated view of oxidative stress in aging: basic mechanisms, functional effects, and pathological considerations Am J Physiol Regulatory Integrative Comp Physiol, January 1, 2007; 292(1): R18 - R36. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
| HOME | HELP | FEEDBACK | SUBSCRIPTIONS | ARCHIVE | SEARCH | TABLE OF CONTENTS |
