Why can millions of hairs grow from our heads, and yet our palms手掌 and the soles of our feet are as bare as anything? It all comes down to a special molecule in our bodies, according to the scientists who have found it.
The hairless regions of our skin secrete a special type of molecule known as an inhibitor. This particular one is a protein named Dickkopf 2 (DKK2). These effectively brick-up the WNT pathway, which is in charge of triggering hair growth in our bodies. Scientists at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine believe certain animals have evolved to produce DKK2 in certain parts of their bodies, depending on what will best help different creatures to survive.
"In this study, we've shown the skin in hairless regions naturally produces an inhibitor that stops WNT from doing its job," Professor Sarah E. Millar, an author of the study published in the journal Cell Reports, commented.

Millar, who is a professor in dermatology at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, continued: "We know that WNT signaling is critical for the development of hair follicles; blocking it causes hairless skin, and switching it on causes formation of more hair."
For their study, the researchers analyzed mouse skin similar to that on a human wrist. Their work showed the protein DKK2 was expressed highly in this part of the mammal compared to hairy areas.

As with mice, humans don’t grow hair in their wrist area, whereas other mammals, like rabbits and polar bears, do, the authors highlighted. When they compared DKK2 expression in mouse wrist skin with rabbit, they found it in lower levels in the latter.
"WNT is still present in hairless regions, it's just being blocked," explained Millar.

The team hopes its findings could help prompt further research into hair growth. This could, in turn, lead to treatments in those where the body has stopped producing hair in particular areas, for instance those with deep wounds or burns, Millar said.
"We hope that these lines of investigation will reveal new ways to improve wound healing and hair growth, and we plan to continue to pursue these goals moving forward," Millar said.

The study is the latest to attempt to answer why the hair on our bodies appears as it does.
In May, researchers at the National Institutes of Health and the University of Alabama, Birmingham offered a new reason why our hair turns gray: our immune systems.
Melanin, which gives hair its color, is made up of cells called melanocytes. When our hair drops out, stem cells add melanocytes to new follicles. But when the stem cells cease to work, the pigment is no longer added.
The scientists behind the paper published in the journal PLOS Biology showed the immune system's reactions to attacks on the body can affect how proteins that help melanocyte stem cells function can turn hair gray.

L187 DKK2的更多相关文章

  1. java web学习总结(三十一) -------------------EL表达式

    一.EL表达式简介 EL 全名为Expression Language.EL主要作用: 1.获取数据 EL表达式主要用于替换JSP页面中的脚本表达式,以从各种类型的web域 中检索java对象.获取数 ...

  2. Windows phone应用开发[19]-RSA数据加密

    在这个系列的第十六章节中Windows phone应用开发[16]-数据加密 中曾详细讲解过windows phone 常用的MD5,HMAC_MD5,DES,TripleDES[3DES] 数据加密 ...

  3. javaweb学习总结(二十九)——EL表达式

    一.EL表达式简介 EL 全名为Expression Language.EL主要作用: 1.获取数据 EL表达式主要用于替换JSP页面中的脚本表达式,以从各种类型的web域 中检索java对象.获取数 ...

  4. Html - 404页面

    <!DOCTYPE HTML> <html lang="en-US"> <head> <meta charset="UTF-8& ...

  5. python 【第三篇】:函数及参数

    函数背景 在学习函数之前,一直遵循:面向过程编程: 根据业务逻辑从上到下实现功能,其往往用一长段代码来实现指定功能,开发过程中最常见的操作就是粘贴复制,也就是将之前实现的代码块复制到现需功能处,如下: ...

  6. javaWeb学习总结(10)- EL表达式

    一.EL表达式简介 EL 全名为Expression Language.EL主要作用: 1.获取数据 EL表达式主要用于替换JSP页面中的脚本表达式,以从各种类型的web域 中检索java对象.获取数 ...

  7. 详解Linux2.6内核中基于platform机制的驱动模型 (经典)

    [摘要]本文以Linux 2.6.25 内核为例,分析了基于platform总线的驱动模型.首先介绍了Platform总线的基本概念,接着介绍了platform device和platform dri ...

  8. XSSearch 说明文档保存

    XSSearch All Packages | 属性 | 方法(函数) 包 XS 继承关系 class XSSearch » XSServer » XSComponent 版本 1.0.0 源代码 s ...

  9. 关于EL表达式的学习总结

    一.EL表达式简介 EL 全名为Expression Language.EL主要作用: 1.获取数据 EL表达式主要用于替换JSP页面中的脚本表达式,以从各种类型的web域 中检索java对象.获取数 ...

随机推荐

  1. C#+GDAL读写文件

    读取shp文件: private void btnBrower_Click(object sender, EventArgs e) { OpenFileDialog dlg = new OpenFil ...

  2. 3 、操作元素 (属性 CSS 和 文档处理)

    3   操作元素-属性 CSS 和 文档处理  3.1 属性操作 $("p").text()    $("p").html()   $(":check ...

  3. Web前台学习总结

    前台的技术有很多种,流行的框架也是枚不胜举,在这里我们只讨论html,css,js这些基本的技术,相信大家如果掌握了这些最基本的技术,其他的技术也就会使用了. 下面是一个案例的形式来讲解上述的技术. ...

  4. http之post和get请求的区别

    GET请求 GET /books/?sex=man&name=Professional HTTP/1.1 Host: www.wrox.com User-Agent: Mozilla/5.0 ...

  5. Flex开发框架cairngorm入门实例

    Cairngorm是flex开发的mvc框架,现在在 adobe旗下.它架构和eclipse插件开发gef架构很相似,具体工作原理如下: 该框架就是一个Cairngorm.swc文件,大家可以到Cai ...

  6. deepin中crossover或playonlinux装完office后word无法输入中文的问题

    原因:office安装是自带了一个微软输入法 解决:装offce时进行自定义安装,在office共享功能里,把输入法去掉. 参考: https://jingyan.baidu.com/article/ ...

  7. System.data.sqlite安装

    在这个页面可以下载安装不同版本的 http://system.data.sqlite.org/index.html/doc/trunk/www/downloads.wiki x86的版本可以在64位机 ...

  8. Android -- Activity的生命周期,Activity四种启动模式 Standard, SingleTop,SingleTask,SingleInstance

    1. 示例图 . 这七个方法定义了Activity的完整生命周期.实现这些方法可以帮助我们监视其中的三个嵌套生命周期循环:  Activity的完整生命周期自第一次调用onCreate()开始,直至调 ...

  9. Validate Binary Search Tree,判断是否是二叉排序树

    算法分析:两种方法,一种是中序遍历,然后得到一个序列,看序列是否是有序的.第二种,是用递归. 中序遍历: public class Solution { List<Integer> lis ...

  10. hdu 2204 Eddy's爱好 容斥原理

    Eddy's爱好 Time Limit: 3000/1000 MS (Java/Others)    Memory Limit: 32768/32768 K (Java/Others) Problem ...