An Actual Scientific Breakthrough for Reversing Wrinkled Skin?
An Actual Scientific Breakthrough for Reversing Wrinkled Skin?
by Michael Orr
We have all seen the claims of miracle-performing wrinkle creams and grow-your-hair-back shampoos. And for just $39.95 you too can look like a super model. Some Silver Sagers may likely have a cupboard full of these products.
But now there is real hope. A new scientific study published in Cell Death & Disease (July 20, 2018), demonstrated that degrading the mitochondrial function in mice resulted in wrinkles and hair loss. No surprise there. It happens to all of us sooner or later. The study was focusing on one thing: “Skin wrinkles are a hallmark of both intrinsic and extrinsic aging of the skin.” Scientifically, mice wrinkles are considered to be similar to human ones due the thickening of the skin (aka epidermal hyperplasia).
In essence, the researchers took mice and “turned off” the mitochondria within the cells, thereby leaving the cells depleted of a number of amino acids and proteins created by mitochondrial DNA. Not surprisingly, the mice with the “shut off” became lethargic and began greying in just four weeks. Within eight weeks most lost their hair 
and became wrinkled, while the mice without mtDNA depletion, the control group, remained normal.
The real surprise came when they turned the mitochondria back on. Not only did the hair loss and wrinkling stop (the expected result), but the process actually reversed itself, smoothing the skin and restoring hair growth. A full reversal. “To our knowledge, this observation is unprecedented,” said Keshav Singh, professor of genetics at the University of Alabama, Birmingham, School of Medicine and author on the paper.
So, while the next miracle cure may not be here just yet, scientists are indeed making progress. Beware the flood of marketing coming soon from companies attaching the results of this study to their product line, but do have hope that, one day in the not-too-distant future, there may be a product of substance.
To read more: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41419-018-0765-9.pdf
