The process of early gray hair is thought to be caused by genetic factors. But stress can also have an effect, scientists from the University of Alabama, in Birmingham, (USA) note.
Scientists have discovered that when the body is under stress for some reason or a serious shock, a double effect occurs.
Genes responsible for controlling stress hormones stimulate changes in hair follicles that produce color. When the immune system is activated, it can also promote changes in the hair follicle cells. Because of this, the hair starts to turn gray.
Scientists have discovered a link between the genes that control hair color and those genes that send a signal to the body that it's time to fight infection.
A study published in the journal PLOS Biology, carried out on mice, shows that when cells are attacked, they produce interferons. Interferons allow cells to undergo changes that interfere with viruses and generally boost defenses. An unexpected side effect of the activation of the defense system is that it turns off the cells that produce hair and skin color.
The authors of the study believe that the discovery of this connection could be helpful in understanding the appearance of gray hair. Most importantly, we will be able to better understand diseases such as vitiligo, which is related to pigmentation.
Vitiligo causes discoloration of parts of the skin, and affects about 0.5 to 1 percent of the population. Claims that hair can turn gray literally overnight are not scientifically based.
That whole legend started from Marie Antoinette's hair, which allegedly turned gray the night before her execution.
Scientists claim that this is unlikely because there are no mechanisms that would explain how hair, which is biologically dead, could be changed by a biological process in the body. In the case of Marie Antoinette, the fact was that her hair was gray even before that, but she still had to come to the execution without a wig, according to the media.
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