Heat Treatment Increases the Incidence of Alopecia Areata in the C3H/HeJ Mouse Model

The study demonstrated that heat treatment significantly increased the incidence of alopecia areata (AA) in C3H/HeJ mice, with 23% of heat-treated mice developing AA compared to 7.5% of sham-treated mice. This effect was observed at an earlier age of 8 months, rather than the usual 18 months. Histological analysis confirmed AA characteristics, and increased expression of the stress-induced protein HSPA1A/B was noted in heat-treated mice. These findings suggested that heat-induced stress could trigger AA in genetically susceptible mice, providing a useful model for studying stress responses in AA and indicating a potential link between stress-induced proteins and autoimmune responses.