A team of researchers has made a breakthrough discovery that could change the way we understand aging, according to The New York Times. The discovery could help understand and prevent baldness in humans.

By studying the hair of aging animals, the team managed to identify two genes involved in the aging of hair, potentially setting the foundation for new anti-hair loss treatment for patients. It was previously believed that due to a process known as stem cell exhaustion, stem cells in the bulges of growing hair follicles died with time, eventually leading hair to first turn white and then eventually die once stem cells die.

Experiment results are promising

But by observing individual strands of hair grow and age in mice, a team led by Northwestern University pathology professor Rui Yi learned that the theory could be wrong. Rather than dying, the stem cells squeeze out of the tiny holes in the hair follicles, changing shapes in order to do so.

“If I did not see it for myself I would not have believed it,” Yi told The New York Times. “It’s almost crazy in my mind.”

Yi and his colleagues observed the genetic processes that determine this activity, identifying two genes called FOXC1 and NFATC1, responsible for trapping stem cells in the follicle’s bulge that showed less activity in older hair follicle cells.

A boon for bald human patients

To prove their theory, the team grew mice without either of those two genes. After just 4-5 months, they started losing their hair. After 16 months, when mice are middle-aged, they lost most of their hair except for tufts of gray fur.

The team is currently testing whether they can actually save the stem cells escaping from the follicles of aging mice. If they are able to do so, it could potentially change everything for bald human patients. If the discovery is perfected it could prove to be a boon to people suffering from hair loss.