Comparison of Alopecia areata in Human and Nonhuman Mammalian Species

    January 1998 in “Pathobiology
    Kevin J. McElwee, Dawnalyn Boggess, Thierry Olivry, R. F. Oliver, David Whiting, Desmond J. Tobin, Jean‐Claude Bystryn, Lloyd E. King, John P. Sundberg
    TLDR The document concludes that certain rats and mice are useful for studying hair loss in humans and testing treatments.
    The document from 1998 discusses Alopecia areata (AA), a type of hair loss that affects both humans and other mammalian species. It highlights the use of the Dundee experimental bald rat and the C3H/HeJ mouse as animal models for studying human AA. The condition is characterized by a range of symptoms from small patches to almost complete hair loss and is marked by dystrophic anagen hair follicles and an inflammatory cell presence around and within hair follicles. Autoantibodies against hair follicle structures during the anagen phase are commonly observed across species. The paper suggests that these nonhuman models are valuable for understanding the genetic and environmental factors involved in AA, as well as for testing new treatments.
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