Stimulating Hair Growth

A team at the University of California, Irvine, has identified a signaling molecule that 

potently stimulates hair growth.

SCUBE3 has been found to be a potential therapeutic option for treating androgenetic alopecia.

A signaling molecule known as SCUBE3, which was discovered by researchers at the University of California, Irvine, has the potential to cure androgenetic alopecia, a prevalent type of hair loss in both women and men.

The research, which was recently published in the journal Developmental Cell, uncovered the precise mechanism by which the dermal papilla cells, specialized signal-producing fibroblasts found at the bottom of each hair follicle, encourage new development. Although the critical role dermal papilla cells play in regulating hair growth is widely established, the genetic basis of the activating chemicals involved is little understood.

“At different times during the hair follicle life cycle, the very same dermal papilla cells can send signals that either keep follicles dormant or trigger new hair growth,” said Maksim Plikus, Ph.D., UCI professor of developmental & cell biology and the study’s corresponding author.

“We revealed that the SCUBE3 signaling molecule, which dermal papilla cells produce naturally, is the messenger used to ‘tell’ the neighboring hair stem cells to start dividing, which heralds the onset of new hair growth.”


For mice and humans to effectively develop hair, the dermal papilla cells must produce activating chemicals. Dermal papilla cells malfunction in people with androgenetic alopecia, drastically lowering the typically plentiful activating chemicals. 

For this study, a mouse model with excessive hair and hyperactivated dermal papilla cells was created. This model will help researchers learn more about the regulation of hair growth.  READ MORE...

Mystgerious Surge in Atmosphere

Levels of molecular hydrogen (H2) in the atmosphere have surged in modern times due to human activity, according to new research.

When scientists analyzed air samples trapped in drilled cores of Antarctica's ice, they found atmospheric hydrogen had increased 70 percent over the course of the 20th century.

Even as recent air pollution laws have sought to curb fossil fuel emissions, hydrogen emissions have continued to rise with no signs of slowing down. There's a chance that leakage is to blame.

Molecular hydrogen is a natural component of our atmosphere due to the breakdown of formaldehyde, but it is also a byproduct of fossil fuel combustion, especially from automobile exhaust and biomass burning.

While hydrogen doesn't trap heat in the atmosphere on its own, it can indirectly impact the distribution of methane and ozone. After carbon dioxide, these are the two most important greenhouse gases, which means global hydrogen levels can also perturb the climate.

Nevertheless, the sources and sinks of atmospheric hydrogen are rarely studied. We don't even have a good estimate of how much humans have emitted since industrial times.

The current study is the first to offer up a solid figure. Between 1852 and 2003, air samples from near the South Pole of Antarctica suggest atmospheric hydrogen jumped from 330 parts per billion to 550 parts per billion.

"Aging air is trapped in the perennial snowpack above an ice sheet, and sampling it gives us a highly accurate account of atmospheric composition over time," explains Earth scientist John Patterson from the University of California Irvine.  READ MORE