Tier 3 — preclinical

Quantitative mapping of human hair greying and reversal in relation to life stress

Rosenberg AM, Rausser S, Ren J, Mosharov EV, Sturm G, Ogden RT, Patel P, Kumar Soni R, Lacefield C, Tobin DJ, Paus R, Picard M
eLife 2021 10:e67437

Bibliography

PubMed
PMID 34155974
DOI
10.7554/eLife.67437
Funding
Wharton Fund and NIH grants GM119793, MH119336, and AG066828 (M. Picard).
Competing interests
Not stated in the available abstract.

Study snapshot

DesignHuman observational study with hair-shaft profiling and proteomics
ModelHuman hair strands, single-hair proteomics
SampleNot fully specified in the available abstract
InterventionNot applicable (observational, no intervention tested; stress exposure assessed retrospectively)
DurationRetrospective mapping along hair shaft length
EndpointsHair pigmentation pattern along shaft; Association with psychological stress; Protein markers of energy metabolism/mitochondria/antioxidant defence in grey vs pigmented hair

What the study showed, in plain terms

This study found that individual grey hairs can sometimes regain their colour, and that these colour changes often line up with periods of higher or lower psychological stress. It shows grey hair is not always a one-way, permanent process in humans, though the driver identified here is stress-related biology, not any supplement.

Key findings

Using a new method to map pigmentation along individual human hair shafts, the authors show that white/grey hairs can naturally regain pigmentation, quantitatively demonstrating that greying is reversible in some cases. Hair greying and reversal could occur in parallel with psychological stressors, and grey hairs showed distinct protein signatures related to energy metabolism, mitochondria, and antioxidant defences.

What this study can and cannot tell us

Observational study, not an intervention trial; does not test fisetin or any supplement. Stress-greying association does not establish a specific causal mechanism reversible by supplementation.

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Dr. Khaled Mahmoud, MBBChCritical Care Medicine, Longevity Science & Editorial Direction Dr. Amr Yasser, PhDCardiometabolic, Musculoskeletal, Gut & Bioavailability Dr. Abdulla Mostafa, PhDCellular Senescence, Neurological, Mitochondrial & Brain-Ageing Biology