Astressin-b Peptide Treatment for Hair Loss

If you've had ongoing problems with hair loss, you'll know how stressful it can be. You may well have been told not to worry because stress can make your hair loss worse, but that's easier said than done. Unfortunately the affect of stress on hair loss is more than just an old wives' tale. This means that you can be trapped in a vicious circle where your feelings about your hair loss just exacerbate the problem. Now a new stress-blocking drug could offer a solution.

Stress and Hair Loss

Not all hair loss is caused by Stress, but where it is, it follows a very specific pattern. Healthy hair follicles have two states: a growth state, when new hair is produced, and shedding state, when old hair is discarded. An excess of stress-related hormones in the blood causes the follicles to remain in the shedding state for much longer than they should. In a real crisis, such as a time of famine, this would allow the body to concentrate resources on more essential things.

The good news about this process is that because the follicles have not actually died, it should be possible to restore their normal behaviour, allowing new hair to grow. Excitement at recovering hair can then help to establish a new cycle, this time positive.

What is Astressin-b Peptide?

Developed by the nonprofit Salk Institute, astressin-b peptide is a chemical made from amino acids, constituents of proteins. Although it's artificial it is similar to chemicals produced naturally within the body. It works by blocking the action of an important stress hormone and it is thought that it may also be able to help treat other stress-related problems.

Although some forms of stress can be tackled in practical ways by getting out of stressful situations, chronic stress can keep on going even when life ought to be easy. This is because the body gets stuck in a feedback loop. It is because chronic stress goes on for so long that it is such a significant contributor to hair loss. The discovery of astressin-b looks set to be a major breakthrough in tackling this type of problem.

Because the body naturally produces higher levels of stress hormones as it ages, stress is also thought to be a factor in much of what we dismiss as age-related hair loss. Astressin-b may therefore be able to cut the rate of hair loss due to ageing, although it won't directly help with other types of hair loss such as inherited male pattern baldness.

Testing Astressin-b Peptide

So far, astressin-b has only been properly tested in mice, but that's no reason to dismiss it. The reason mice were used in the experiments is that they and humans have the same types of stress signalling system. The hormone that astressin-b blocks is present in both.

Some people are now selling what they claim is astressin-b over the internet. As always, you should be very cautious about buying anything like this as there's no way to be sure that an unlicensed product is safe. Before astressin-b based treatments can be licensed in Britain they will have to be properly tested to make sure that they don't have any dangerous side effects or react with other types of medication. This process usually takes five to ten years.

Astressin-b Peptide Treatment

The astressin-b treatments under development would be delivered by injection. The good news is that it won't be necessary to inject every day. Astressin-b stays in the body and keeps on working for some time after delivery, so a short course of injections could be sufficient for several months. It is hoped that this would make it an easier treatment to use than currently popular treatments, as well as a more effective one.

If the results in humans mirror those in mice, astressin-b peptide will not provide a permanent cure and further treatments will be needed to keep the hair on good condition. All the mice in the experiments, however, grew full, thick fur where they had previously been bald, and their new hair lasted for a significant percentage of their lifetimes. It looks as if astressin-b could finally deliver the type of results that hair loss sufferers have been waiting for.