Scientists have invented an electric comb and tests on mice show it promotes rapid hair growth: ScienceAlert

If you’re losing your hair, you may not need the comb as often as you used to.

It’s just possible that this is about to change.

Research by Chinese scientists has revealed a promising new way to combat hair loss, and the comb is the key part.

But this is no ordinary comb. The “Detangle” system, revealed in a new study in Natural communicationsis a specialized comb-shaped bioelectronic device.

“This system features integrated electronic teeth with height-differentiated electrodes and integrated drug-loading modules, which generate an enhanced electric field penetrating up to 9 times deeper into hair follicle regions than conventional external application,” explain its creators, led by researchers at Beihang University in Beijing, in their paper.

Although Detangle has only been tested in mouse experiments so far, the results suggest that this electric comb could potentially be a powerful tool to help treat androgenetic alopecia (AGA), also known as hair loss, which is estimated to affect more than a billion people worldwide.

The device generates pulsed electric fields from alternating prongs of different lengths. Researchers say the difference in tooth length generates an electric field 2.63 times more powerful than if the teeth were aligned.

In terms of hair regrowth, Detangle works in two different ways. Electrical impulses from the teeth promote hair growth by stimulating follicles, but the alternating shorter teeth are also charged with a drug delivery system that can deliver therapeutic molecules deep into the skin, through a process called electroporation, which temporarily increases the permeability of the cell membrane.

The tests used here used two different types of experimental genetic treatments to complement the electrical stimulation: the VEGFA plasmid, which stimulates the growth of blood vessels around hair follicles, and the SRD5A2 siRNA, which suppresses a hormone that shrinks hair follicles.

In a series of experiments with mice, the combined effects of the complete system yielded impressive results.

In male mice with testosterone-induced hair loss, the untreated animals only grew back about 1% of the hair on a shaved portion of their backs during a 28-day experiment.

In mice that received only Detangle electrostimulation, hair growth increased to about 40 percent, which was significantly better.

However, electrical stimulation alone produced less regrowth than in mice given the hair growth drugs finasteride and minoxidil, with these mice seeing about 50 and 70 percent regrowth, respectively.

The strongest results came from combining Detangle’s electrical stimulation with the therapeutic molecules. When combined with the treatments individually, the SRD5A2 siRNA produced about 85 percent regrowth, and the VEGFA plasmid saw about 90 percent.

But in animals that received the full Detangle treatment – ​​electrostimulation combined with the two experimental therapies, VEGFA plasmid and SRD5A2 siRNA – hair regrowth was basically maximized, with the researchers saying recovery was around 97.85 percent.

“This approach accelerates hair growth by almost 100% within one month in the AGA mouse model, surpassing results obtained with conventional oral or external medications,” the researchers write.

This is an extremely promising proof of concept, but we will have to wait and see if further research can demonstrate that the techniques used here with the Detangle system are safe and effective in humans.

But if future tests confirm these results, the humble hair comb could make a comeback, and baldness may be in for a shock.

The results are reported in Natural communications.