Reportedly, scientists at the University of California Los Angeles and the Veterans Administration accidentally found a possible cure for baldness when they were evaluating the effects of stress on the gastrointestinal tract. They found that a chemical compound could generate hair growth when a stress hormone associated with hair loss was blocked. Million Mugata, adjunct professor of medicine at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA stated, “Our findings show that a short-duration treatment with this compound causes an astounding long-term hair regrowth in chronically stressed mutant mice.” The study was published on the online journal of PLoS One. (here is a link: http://www.plosone.org/)

Laboratory mices in the experiment testThe compound, astressin-B, was injected into bald mice to see what kind of effect that would have on gastrointestinal function. The injection was repeated over 5 days and 3 months later they found that the mice had regrown hair just like their hairy counterparts. This effect lasted for 4 months, which is a long time considering that mice only live for about 2 years.

UCLA professor and co-author of the study, Yvette Tache, said that it would probably take 5 years to start clinical trials in humans. Although this sounds like a tantalizing prospect for humans, it may only serve as a supplement to the current medical arsenal of minoxidil and finasteride. However, with ongoing work in genetic modification, a cure for baldness may be on the horizon.