Method for Chronological Recording of Antigen Appearance in Human Head-Hair Shafts and Its Use for Monitoring Glycation Products in Diabetes

November 2006 in “ Journal of immunological methods ”

J. Nissimov, Uriel Elchalal, Hilaire Bakala, Michael Brownlee, Elliot M. Berry, Moshe Phillip, Yoram Milner

antigen head-hair shafts glycation products hyperglycemia diabetes dot-block in-situ method early glycation adducts advanced glycation end-products hair fibers hair blood sugar sugar damage AGEs EGAs

Studysummary This study found that the novel dot-block method can effectively measure early- and advanced-glycation products in hair, suggesting its potential for monitoring diabetes progression and other chronic conditions. Our plain-language summary of this paper — not a Tressless recommendation.

The study described a method for chronologically recording antigen appearance in human head-hair shafts to monitor glycation products, which are markers of hyperglycemia useful for diabetes monitoring. The researchers used a "dot-block" in-situ method to detect early glycation adducts (EGAs) and advanced glycation end-products (AGEs) along hair shafts of diabetic and non-diabetic subjects. This method allowed for dynamic and detailed analysis of glycation products along the entire length of hair fibers at intervals as close as 0.5 cm. The findings indicated that hair shafts could serve as a non-invasive, chronological record of glycation, providing valuable insights into the medical history and disease progression in individuals.

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