Hair loss is a problem that affects millions worldwide. The usual causes of balding include aging, hormonal imbalance as seen in individuals with excess testosterone, some vitamin deficiencies, dandruff and even burns. Hair loss is also genetic in nature and it is not unusual to see that a son inherits his father's hair loss characteristic.

Hair loss is primarily seen in men, but is also prevalent in women as well. It is generally accepted that humans have a fixed number of hair follicles at birth and that these follicles are the ones associated with hair growth throughout life. Damage to the hair follicles means that hair loss or baldness is round the corner.

That need not be the case, the new study appearing in the May 17 issue of the journal Nature indicates. The researchers were studying would healing patterns in laboratory mice when they chanced upon new hair follicles in the skin of the mice after it was scraped away.

This is the first evidence that mammal skin has the ability to regenerate hair follicles, a theory that was never subscribed to by scientists. In the present study they were surprised to find that would healing in mice gave rise to an "embryonic window" of opportunity that allowed new hair follicles to grow in the healing skin.

Researchers led by senior author George Cotsarelis said would healing appeared to trigger molecular pathways that then dispatched stem cells to the injured area. This embryonic state of the skin was more receptive to following instructions received from a group of proteins called wnt proteins, which are thought to play a major role in hair follicle development.

However one startling finding was that the regenerated hair follicles appeared to develop from stem cells that had nothing to do with generation of hair follicles. This finding seems to indicate that injury triggers different reactions in stem cells as well.

They introduced wnt proteins into the healing skin and found they could direct it to regenerate new hair follicles instead of just repairing the damaged structure. But if they blocked the wnt proteins, the regeneration process of new hair follicles also stopped, the researchers reported.

Researchers theorize that would healing "reawakens" genes that were present only in the embryonic stage. It is hoped this discovery could one day lead to innovative treatments for hair loss, other skin and hair disorders, besides allowing scientists to control the process of wound healing to a better degree.

Cotsarelis is currently looking to form a company to find ways this study could be put to use among humans. The company called Follica already has a patent application for hair-follicle neogenesis.

Cotsarelis says the findings not only hold promise for preventing hair loss in the future, but a detailed study of the genes involved could provide clues to regenerate organs like fingers or limbs as well.

Currently hair loss is treated in a variety of ways including applying a mix of medications, using multivitamins and of course hair transplantation. These procedures are costly and there is no guarantee they will work in curing male-pattern baldness. However the above study is exciting in the sense that it promises to enable the human body to regenerate new hair follicles.