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13th June 2025
05:01pm BST
Hair loss is a big deal for blokes, so the word coming out of Madrid that scientists are developing a cure to baldness will be mightily welcome.
Via The Telegraph, researchers from the San Carlos clinic claim they were able to regrow hair on mice during an experimental stem cell study.
This potentially game-changing project involved male and females being given dihydrotestosterone (DHT), which causes thinning hair in the latter and receding hair lines in the former.
So, once the animals had shed their fur, scientists injected half of them with their own body fat stem cells, as well as a chemical growth stimulator known as adenosine triphosphate. The remaining 50% were recipients of a placebo.
Fascinatingly, each of the DHT-infused males experienced at least some hair regrowth - around half grew back their entire coat. Most of the females followed suit.
"Hair grew back in all of the treated male mice," said San Carlos head of dermatology Dr. Eduardo López Bran.
"In the case of the females, a lower dose was used, and the results were also somewhat worse, although still good, because 90 percent managed to repopulate their hair."
The San Carlos team will next test on humans before hopefully rolling out a drug to market by 2030.
At 44.5%, Spain has the highest ratio of bald men in the world.
Dr. Bran claimed he's "noticed a huge increase in inquiries seeking a solution, a truly significant growth in demand, especially among young people who, at the first signs of baldness, want to slow its progression, or even reverse those initial symptoms."
Meanwhile, back in 2024, a group of scientists from the University of Manchester made a cell discovery that may lead to a different cure for baldness.
Their research found that a biological stress response often causes hair follicles to switch off and die. According to study author Dr. Talveen Purba, this particular response acts as a regulator for non-essential bodily functions such as hair growth during an infection or when the body isn't getting enough nutrients.
Stopping that response through drugs could halt balding once and for all.
