A Nagoya University study found that luteolin, a plant antioxidant present in foods including celery, carrots and peppers, preserved hair pigmentation in mice by maintaining cellular signaling needed for pigment-producing cells to function.
By yourNEWS Media Newsroom
A naturally occurring antioxidant found in several common vegetables prevented age-related hair graying in laboratory mice, offering researchers a possible new avenue for studying whether the biological process behind gray hair can eventually be slowed or controlled.
Scientists at Nagoya University in Japan found that luteolin, a plant-derived antioxidant present in celery, carrots, peppers and other foods, suppressed graying in mice genetically designed to undergo changes in hair pigmentation that resemble the process seen in humans.
The research, led by Masashi Kato and Takumi Kagawa and published in the journal Antioxidants, examined luteolin alongside two other plant-based antioxidants, hesperetin and diosmetin.
Of the three compounds, luteolin produced the notable effect.
Mice receiving luteolin maintained dark-colored fur as they aged, while untreated mice developed gray fur. Researchers observed the effect when luteolin was administered through the diet as well as when it was applied topically.
Neither hesperetin nor diosmetin produced the same result, suggesting the finding could involve a mechanism specific to luteolin rather than simply the general antioxidant properties shared by the compounds.
The research could be important because hair graying has traditionally been regarded largely as an irreversible consequence of aging. Rather than attempting to cover gray hair cosmetically after pigment has been lost, the Nagoya University research focused on the cellular processes that allow hair follicles to continue producing pigment.
Hair color depends on melanocytes, specialized pigment-producing cells located within hair follicles. Those cells produce melanin, the pigment responsible for determining hair color.
As people age, the ability of that pigmentation system to function normally can decline. Melanocytes may become less active or disappear, reducing the amount of melanin incorporated into newly developing hair. As pigmentation decreases, individual strands can become gray, silver or white.
Researchers found evidence that luteolin may interfere with that process by helping preserve communication between cells inside the hair follicle.
The study specifically identified a signaling system involving proteins known as endothelins.
Endothelins and their receptors participate in communication necessary for melanocyte activity. As the follicle ages, disruptions in those signaling pathways can interfere with the ability of pigment-producing cells to continue functioning properly.
Luteolin appeared to preserve the expression of both the signaling proteins and their receptors in the mice studied, allowing the cellular communication network associated with pigmentation to remain functional.
By maintaining those signals, luteolin helped protect melanocyte activity and prevented the loss of pigmentation that otherwise occurred as the animals aged.
The researchers also found an important distinction between luteolin’s effect on hair color and the mechanisms controlling hair growth.
The antioxidant appeared to act specifically on pigmentation without significantly changing the normal hair-growth cycle. The mice did not show evidence that luteolin unnaturally accelerated hair production or prevented the normal shedding process.
That distinction could prove important if researchers eventually investigate luteolin as a potential treatment in people. A compound capable of influencing pigmentation without broadly altering the hair follicle’s growth cycle could potentially offer a more targeted approach to age-related graying.
Luteolin has already attracted scientific interest beyond hair pigmentation because of its antioxidant and anti-inflammatory characteristics. Previous research has examined its ability to influence inflammatory and immune pathways.
Chronic, low-level inflammation has been associated with numerous biological changes that accompany aging. Researchers are therefore interested in whether luteolin’s effects on inflammation could contribute to a cellular environment that allows melanocytes and other follicular cells to remain functional longer.
The Nagoya University findings, however, do not establish that luteolin can prevent gray hair in people.
The experiments were performed in mice, and results from animal studies cannot automatically be assumed to produce the same outcomes in humans.
Researchers nevertheless consider the model particularly useful because the process through which the experimental mice developed gray hair shares important characteristics with human graying.
The findings therefore raise the possibility that the biological pathway identified in the animals could eventually become relevant to human treatments.
Additional research would be necessary before that possibility could be established.
Scientists would need to determine whether luteolin has the same effect on human hair follicles, what concentration would be necessary to influence pigmentation, whether topical or oral administration would be most effective and whether prolonged exposure could produce unwanted effects.
Luteolin is already commercially available in dietary supplements, but its availability should not be interpreted as evidence that currently marketed products have been shown to prevent or reverse gray hair.
No luteolin-based treatment has been established through human clinical research as a proven therapy for age-related graying.
The study instead provides evidence about a biological mechanism that researchers can investigate further.
That distinction is particularly significant because promising findings involving animal models can quickly generate consumer interest before clinical evidence establishes whether a treatment is safe or effective in people.
The research could also eventually have implications extending beyond hair color.
Researchers have identified age-related hair thinning and hair loss as potential areas for future investigation. Because luteolin appeared to help preserve important functions within the follicular environment, scientists could examine whether similar mechanisms influence other changes occurring in aging hair.
Whether luteolin can affect thinning or balding has not been established, however, and those possibilities remain subjects for additional research rather than demonstrated benefits.
The broader significance of the experiment lies in its suggestion that graying may be a biologically modifiable process rather than simply a cosmetic sign of aging that cannot be influenced.
“Gray hair is the result of reduced melanin production in hair follicles, causing strands to lose their pigment and appear gray, silver or white,” said BrightU.AI‘s Enoch. “It is a natural part of the aging process, though it can also be influenced by genetics, stress and environmental factors. The change occurs when pigment cells within the follicle gradually become less active or die.”
By identifying a specific cellular signaling network associated with pigment loss — and showing that luteolin helped preserve that network in mice — the Nagoya University team has provided researchers with another potential target for understanding how hair changes with age.
The findings also underscore that the effect was not produced equally by every antioxidant tested. Luteolin prevented the visible graying observed in the mouse model, while hesperetin and diosmetin did not, directing attention toward luteolin’s particular interactions with the pigmentation system.
For now, the research remains an early-stage laboratory finding rather than a treatment for consumers.
Determining whether luteolin can safely preserve hair pigmentation in humans will require additional research into dosage, delivery, biological effectiveness and long-term safety. If those studies ultimately reproduce the effects observed in mice, the work could contribute to a new approach that targets the underlying cellular mechanisms of graying instead of merely concealing gray hair after it appears.
Source: Natural News
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