| Excerpted
from The Toronto Star, April 30, 1988 U.S.
researchers say they have discovered what
causes baldness but it will be 5 to 10 years before a possible
cure is ready for testing.
According
to Dr. Marty Sawaya, a researcher at the University
of Miami School of Medicine, baldness is caused by a biochemical
change in cells that stops hair growth.
She and her colleagues have determined that hair follicles
that stop hair from growing are "short circuited"
by the male hormone testosterone.
This
discovery was made after cells were separated
from scalp plugs at different stages of hair loss. The Miami
researchers are now attempting to purify and eventually synthesize
an inhibitor protein to block the male hormone. Sawaya believes
that it might be possible to administer this protein to men
who are starting to go bald and thereby stop the process.
Dr.
David Norris a dermatology researcher has
identified Sawaya's work as an important extension of our
understanding of the local effects that cause male pattern
baldness. About 70 percent of all men over the age of 60 experience
some form of male pattern baldness and for many the hair loss
starts in there 20s and 30s. |
