Scientists at UCLA made an accidental discovery which could lead to curing baldness.
Originally the UCLA scientists wished to study how to reduce the harmful impact of chronic stress. What they found is that stress is beneficial in small doses, heightening the
ability to run away from predators or to concentrate while taking an exam.
Chronic stress can bring about an array of mental or physical disorders such as high
blood pressure, anxiety disorders, rheumatic diseases, muscle pain, a weakened
immune system and neurodegenerative diseases.
Chronic stress can also cause hair to fall out.
The UCLA team, led by Yvette Tache was investigating the role of CFR or cortisotropin-releasing factor in stress. CFR is one of a number of hormones that mediate the body's stress responses. Secreted from the hypothalamus, CRF acts at various sites in the brain and other parts of the body to mediate the stress response.
In the gut, CRF stimulates a colonic stress response that includes motility,
defecation, and diarrhea.
But animal models of high anxiety show that elevated CRF can lead to irritable bowel syndrome or even make it worse.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1727153/?tool=pubmed - Trying
to find a way to block these effects, Tache
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