Stress Hormones & Hair Loss

Nature. 2021 Apr;592(7854):428-432. doi: 10.1038/s41586-021-03417-2. Epub 2021 Mar 31.
Corticosterone inhibits GAS6 to govern hair follicle stem-cell quiescence

Sekyu Choi 1 2, Bing Zhang 1 2 3, Sai Ma 1 4 5, Meryem Gonzalez-Celeiro 1 2, Daniel Stein 1 2, Xin Jin 1 2 5, Seung Tea Kim 1 2, Yuan-Lin Kang 1 2, Antoine Besnard 2 6 7 8, Amelie Rezza 9 10 11, Laura Grisanti 9 10, Jason D Buenrostro 1 2 5, Michael Rendl 9 10 12, Matthias Nahrendorf 13 14 15, Amar Sahay 2 5 6 7, Ya-Chieh Hsu 16 17

Chronic, sustained exposure to stressors can profoundly affect tissue homeostasis, although the mechanisms by which these changes occur are largely unknown. Here we report that the stress hormone corticosterone-which is derived from the adrenal gland and is the rodent equivalent of cortisol in humans-regulates hair follicle stem cell (HFSC) quiescence and hair growth in mice. In the absence of systemic corticosterone, HFSCs enter substantially more rounds of the regeneration cycle throughout life. Conversely, under chronic stress, increased levels of corticosterone prolong HFSC quiescence and maintain hair follicles in an extended resting phase. Mechanistically, corticosterone acts on the dermal papillae to suppress the expression of Gas6, a gene that encodes the secreted factor growth arrest specific 6. Restoring Gas6 expression overcomes the stress-induced inhibition of HFSC activation and hair growth. Our work identifies corticosterone as a systemic inhibitor of HFSC activity through its effect on the niche, and demonstrates that the removal of such inhibition drives HFSCs into frequent regeneration cycles, with no observable defects in the long-term.

The full follow-up to above study

Keep quiet—how stress regulates hair follicle stem cells

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/labs/pmc/articles/PMC8501069/

Is there a work around ? The study doesn't necessarily say what to do(or I may have missed it). In addition to meditation, excercise, staying away from stress, etc.
Is that phosphatidylserine sup good ? I went through 2 bottles(1 month of supply). I could go on but it is pretty expensive here.

Nuada wrote:Is there a work around ? The study doesn't necessarily say what to do(or I may have missed it). In addition to meditation, exercise, staying away from stress, etc.
Is that phosphatidylserine sup good ? I went through 2 bottles(1 month of supply). I could go on but it is pretty expensive here.

Probably several work arounds. Many have been mentioned probably years ago. The researchers rarely come up with anything all that interesting.

For quite a long time, these "experts" professed for decades that stress didn't cause hair loss. Strange isn't it.

Only more evidence each year that stress is huge.  

Would something like He Huan Pi
(Albizia Bark, Cortex Albiziae, 合欢皮) work?

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32360906/

https://www.activeherb.com/chineseherbs/hehuanpi.shtml

Usually there are reasons for all of this.

EMF's, Wi-fi, low melatonin (brings on more corticotropin-releasing hormone)...

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/labs/pmc/articles/PMC8427189/

The Effect of Sympathetic Nerves on HF Stress System
As a unique and sensitive mini-organ, the HF represents not only the target of stress hormones and autoimmune responses, but can also secrete related stress factors that affect skin conditions (Welch, 1992; Pacak and Palkovits, 2001). The systematic biological response of organisms to external stressors (or classical stress responses) mainly activates the central hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) stress axis, which in turn releases corticotropin-releasing hormone (CRH) to activate the receptor (CRH-R) in the hypothalamus. The downstream target organ-adrenal gland gives out adrenocorticoid-derived peptide (POMC), and the sympathetic nerves produce adrenocorticoid into the blood circulation (Ito et al., 2005). The stress response also comprises autonomic sympathetic regulation of target organs and the immune system: the sympathetic neuropeptides affect the function of the immune system, while the immune system regulates the function of the central nervous system by releasing cytokines. In organ culture and microdissection of HFs, CRH up-regulates the expression of upstream sympathetic molecules, such as POMC, ACTH, and α-MSH peptides. These molecules promote the secretion of cortisol by HFs, which accumulate and exocrine in the keratinocytes of ORS in HFs, and then inhibit the expression of various stressor hormones in ORS. This suggests that HFs have a similar classical HPA axis negative feedback regulation effect (Ito et al., 2005; Figure 2).

It s important manage stress, meditation is a good choice but ....

stress affect all scalp hairs, it is different to common hairloss whit its special pattern