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A synthetic compound that mimics the smell of sandalwood encourages human scalp tissue in the lab to maintain hair growth, researchers report today (September 18) in Nature Communications. The chemical works by triggering an odor receptor in hair follicles, which decreases rates of cell death and boosts the production of a growth factor.
“This is actually a rather amazing finding,” coauthor Ralf Paus of the University of Manchester tells The Independent. “This is the first time ever that it has been shown that the remodelling of a normal human mini-organ [a hair] can be regulated by a simple, cosmetically widely-used odorant.”
Paus and his colleagues had zeroed in on the receptor OR2AT4, as previous research by some of the same scientists had found that it was present in human skin and could stimulate the growth of cells known as keratinocytes when exposed to the sandalwood compound ...
