Thyroid hormone signaling controls hair follicle stem cell function.

Mol Biol Cell. 2015 Feb 5. pii: mbc.E14-07-1251. [Epub ahead of print]
Thyroid hormone signaling controls hair follicle stem cell function.
Contreras-Jurado C1, Lorz C2, García-Serrano L1, Paramio JM3, Aranda A4.

Observations in thyroid patients and experimental animals show that the skin is an important target for the thyroid hormones. We have previously shown that deletion in mice of the thyroid hormone nuclear receptors TRα1 and TRβ (the main thyroid hormone binding isoforms), results in impaired epidermal proliferation, hair growth and wound healing. Stem cells located at the bulges of the hair follicles are responsible for hair cycling and contribute to the regeneration of the new epidermis after wounding. Therefore a reduction in the number or function of the bulge stem cells could be responsible for this phenotype. Bulge cells show increased levels of epigenetic repressive marks, can retain bromodeoxyuridine labeling for a long time and have colony formation efficiency (CFE) in vitro. Here, we demonstrate that mice lacking TRs do not have a decrease of the bulge stem cell population. Rather, they show an increase of label-retaining cells (LRCs) in the bulges and enhanced CFE in vitro. A reduced activation of stem cells leading to their accumulation in the bulges is indicated by a strongly reduced response to mobilization by 12-O-tetradecanolyphorbol-13-acetate (TPA). Altered function of the bulge stem cells is associated with aberrant activation of Smad signaling leading to a reduced nuclear accumulation of β-catenin, which is crucial for stem cell proliferation and mobilization. LRCs of TR deficient mice also show increased levels of epigenetic repressive marks. We conclude that thyroid hormone signaling is an important determinant of the mobilization of stem cells out of their niche in the hair bulge. These findings correlate with the skin defects observed in mice and with the alterations found in human thyroid disorders.

Nice, CS. Your intuitions (this and Ecklonia Cava comes to mind) are being proven correct.

I am taking your Thyroid Boost for iodine, and was wondering, does it matter if I take it without food? I have a hard time remembering to take pills at different times of the day and would prefer to down them all in the morning.

CF wrote:Nice, CS.  Your intuitions (this and Ecklonia Cava comes to mind) are being proven correct.  

I am taking your Thyroid Boost for iodine, and was wondering, does it matter if I take it without food?  I have a hard time remembering to take pills at different times of the day and would prefer to down them all in the morning.

Yes, this one is totally fine to take without food.