TLDR Hair plucking quickly increases antizyme, reducing a specific enzyme activity in rats.
Hair plucking in rats led to a rapid decrease in ornithine decarboxylase (ODC) activity, while other skin enzymes remained unaffected. The study suggested the presence of an inhibitor, known as antizyme, which was released early during the induction of ODC by hair plucking. Treatment with 10% (NH4)2SO4 increased ODC activity by approximately 75% in enzyme preparations, indicating that antizyme levels increased in plucked skin extracts after such treatment.
34 citations,
October 1975 in “Biochimica et Biophysica Acta (BBA) - Nucleic Acids and Protein Synthesis” [object Object]
30 citations,
July 2010 in “Experimental Dermatology” Polyamines are important for hair growth, but more research is needed to understand their functions and treatment potential.
Hair follicles can be used to quickly assess drug effects in cancer treatment.
[object Object] 64 citations,
March 2004 in “Journal of Clinical Investigation” Targeting ornithine decarboxylase can help prevent skin cancer.
65 citations,
March 2004 in “Journal of Clinical Investigation” Inhibiting ornithine decarboxylase may help prevent certain skin cancers.
47 citations,
December 2019 in “Frontiers in immunology” A new mutation in the STING protein causes a range of symptoms and its severity may be affected by other genetic variations; treatment with a specific inhibitor showed improvement in one patient.
