Researchers have identified for the first time the mechanism by which chronic stress causes hair colour loss , an advance that may lead to the development of novel drugs which can prevent the whitening of hair.

Our study proved that the phenomenon does indeed occur, and we identified the mechanisms involved,' said Thiago Mattar Cunha from Harvard University in the US.

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It controls the organism's 'fight or flight' response to sudden danger, launching a flash flood of the hormones adrenaline and cortisol to make the heart beat faster, blood pressure rise, respiration accelerate and the pupils dilate, among other systemic effects, they added.
The researchers observed that when the sympathetic nervous system was blocked, hair whitening was curbed.
Scientists had discovered that unspecialised stem cells in the hair follicle bulb 'mature' too soon under stress.
'In a young individual the cells are undifferentiated, like all stem cells, but with ageing, they gradually differentiate. Once the process is complete they stop producing the melanocytes which produce melanin,' Cunha said.

News: DIVYA POONKAZHAL