Mechanism Overview: IGF-1 as a Central Follicle Growth Factor Insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF-1) is a 70-amino acid polypeptide hormone that is structurally related to proinsulin and is one of the most potent stimulators of cell proliferation and survival in…
Mechanism Overview: Hyaluronic Acid as a Follicle Microenvironment Modulator Hyaluronic acid (HA, also called hyaluronan) is a glycosaminoglycan—a long, unbranched polysaccharide chain composed of repeating disaccharide units of glucuronic acid and N-acetylglucosamine. HA is a major component of the extracellular…
Mechanism Overview: The Follicle’s Internal Clock Circadian rhythms are approximately 24-hour cycles of biological activity regulated by a molecular clock consisting of the transcription factors CLOCK and BMAL1, which activate the expression of Period (PER1-3) and Cryptochrome (CRY1-2) genes, whose…
Mechanism Overview: Copper at the Intersection of Structure and Color Copper is an essential trace element that serves as a cofactor for several enzymes critical to hair biology, most notably lysyl oxidase (required for collagen and elastin cross-linking), tyrosinase (the…
Mechanism Overview: The Follicle’s Internal Cleanup System Autophagy (from the Greek “self-eating”) is a cellular process by which damaged organelles, misfolded proteins, and other cellular debris are degraded and recycled. In the hair follicle, autophagy plays a critical role in…
Mechanism Overview: Concentrating the Body’s Growth Factors Platelet-rich plasma (PRP) is an autologous preparation of concentrated platelets in a small volume of plasma, obtained by centrifuging the patient’s own blood. Platelets are rich in alpha granules that contain over 30…
Mechanism Overview: Building Blocks of Hair Hair is approximately 95% keratin protein, and keratin is composed of amino acids linked by peptide bonds into polypeptide chains. The hair follicle must synthesize approximately 6 meters of keratin protein per day (across…
Mechanism Overview: Melatonin as a Follicle Hormone Melatonin (N-acetyl-5-methoxytryptamine) is best known as the “sleep hormone” produced by the pineal gland in response to darkness, but it has a much broader role as a tissue-protective molecule with potent antioxidant, anti-inflammatory,…
Mechanism Overview: From Gut Microbiome to Hair Follicle The concept of a “gut-skin axis” has gained significant attention in dermatology and trichology, positing that the gut microbiome influences skin and hair health through immune modulation, nutrient absorption, and the production…
Mechanism Overview: BMP as the Brake on Hair Growth Bone morphogenetic proteins (BMPs) are members of the TGF-β superfamily that play a dual role in hair follicle biology: they are needed for follicle development during embryogenesis, but in adult follicles,…
