Its no secret that spotting your initial silver strand can be a stressful affair and news stories and articles arent making it much better. From perpetuating myths on fighting gray hair (Drink carrot juice!; Dont pluck the hair strands!) towards the raging debate on whether to go faux or allow the silver strands go, graying hair is rife with anxiety, confusion and stress.
Were right here to let you know to quit stressing. Figuring out the origins of your respective graying hair can allow you to debunk irresponsible gray hair myths and take your anxiety down a couple of notches and did we mention that stress only aggravates your graying hair?
Our bodies are usually on the look-out for free radicals, also referred to as pro-oxidants. When damaging free radicals enter our bodies (resulting from exposure from pollution, unhealthy dieting, lack of exercise and smoking), specialized enzymes, proteins and vitamins known as antioxidants search for out these damaging radicals and destroy them. Though, in the event the body is exposed to an overwhelming amount of free radicals, the antioxidants can't destroy all of the pro-oxidants; therefore, oxidative stress happens.
In this second part we'll discuss a specific class of oxygen based free radicals named Superoxides and see how they wreak havoc through the hydrogen peroxide pathway.
Super Oxides are free radicals that results from metabolic process within the body so that our response to stress. The body has evolved an elegant method of dealing with these Super Oxides; 1st the body unleashes a class of enzymes called Superoxide Dismutase (SOD) that assists to convert these Superoxides into h2o and hydrogen peroxide. Now in smaller concentrations hydrogen peroxide is easily broken down into hydrogen and water by an additional class of enzymes named Peroxidases. The key peroxidases employed by the body would be the enzymes Glutathione Peroxidase and Catalase.
As discussed in Part 1
Gray Hair Free Radicals free radicals in and of themselves can injure the hair follicle and brings about graying. Nonetheless, in periods of prolonged stress, the volume of hydrogen peroxide being created overwhelms the bodys ability to break it down resulting in oxidative stress along with your gray hair. [Arck PC, Overall R, Spatz K et al (2006). Towards a free radical theory of graying: Melanocyte apoptosis in the aging human hair follicle is an indicator of oxidative stress induced tissue damage. FASED J 20: 1567-1569.] The hydrogen peroxide builds up throughout the body, which includes inside papillary cavities underneath the epidermis of the scalp. These cavities are where hair follicles originate, and also where specialized cells - named melanocyte produces melanin for your hair strand.
The hair expansion cycle has three principal stages, that are named the anagen stage (the growth stage), the telogen stage (where the follicle is at a period of rest) and the catagen stage (the transitional period between the former stages). The anagen- stage may also be reduced into 6 parts; however, melanocyte plays their principal part inside the 3rd and fourth stages. During anagen stage III, melanocyte start to grow and accumulate in the papillary cavities; when the hair follicle starts to grow towards the epidermis, the melanocyte pigments the hair. [TOBIN DJ, SLOMINSKI A, BOTCHKAREV V et all (1999). The Fate of Hair Follicle Melonocytes During the Hair Growth Cycle. J Investig Dermatol Symp Proc 4.323-332].
Now while the hair grows in the anagen phase, the accumulated hydrogen peroxide sits inside the papillary cavity where it bleaches the hair as it grows no different than if we bleached your hair yourself with a bottle of bleach. Over time its also possible the melanocyte cells will die off because the hydrogen peroxide interact with other crucial enzymes such as MSRA and MSRB and deactivate them stopping the hair follicles from repairing itself leading to other aspects of aging hair which includes thinning and weak/brittle hairs leading to wholesale greying.
THIS IS THE END OF A TWO PART SERIES ON OXIDATIVE STRESS THEORY OF GREYING
