Need a big favor. S Foote's theory in a nutshell?

[michael barry]

Doctor,

Do you feel lowering type ONE created-DHT is harmful? I can tell you feel lowering type 2 is safe.




Wook,

Im a little suprised you dont pursue topical receptor blockers as a way to compbat male pattern baldness. It would seem something like spironolactone would be right up your alley as far as an approach. No side effects, takes discipline, no internal changes, etc.

 

[michael barry]

Wook,

Look at this:


Journal of Investigative Dermatology advance online publication 26 July 2007; doi: 10.1038/sj.jid.5700999

Dihydrotestosterone-Inducible Dickkopf 1 from Balding Dermal Papilla Cells Causes Apoptosis in Follicular Keratinocytes
Mi Hee Kwack1, Young Kwan Sung1, Eun Jung Chung1, Sang Uk Im1, Ji Seop Ahn1, Moon Kyu Kim1 and Jung Chul Kim1

1Department of Immunology, School of Medicine, Kyungpook National University, Daegu, Korea

Correspondence: Dr Young Kwan Sung or Dr Jung Chul Kim, Department of Immunology, School of Medicine, Kyungpook National University, 2-101 Dong-In-Dong, Chung-Gu, Daegu 700-422, Korea. E-mail: ysung@knu.ac.kr or jayckim@knu.ac.kr

Received 5 February 2007; Revised 28 May 2007; Accepted 4 June 2007; Published online 26 July 2007.

Top of pageAbstract
Recent studies suggest that androgen-driven alteration to the autocrine and paracrine factors produced by scalp dermal papilla (DP) cells may be a key to androgen-potentiated balding. Here, we screened dihydrotestosterone (DHT)-regulated genes in balding DP cells and found that dickkopf 1 (DKK-1) is one of the most upregulated genes. DKK-1 messenger RNA is upregulated in 3–6 hours after 50–100 nM DHT treatment and ELISA showed that DKK-1 is secreted from DP cells in response to DHT. A co-culture system using outer root sheath (ORS) keratinocytes and DP cells showed that DHT inhibits the growth of ORS cells, and neutralizing antibody against DKK-1 significantly reversed the growth inhibition of ORS cells. Analysis of co-cultured ORS cells showed a significant increment of sub-G1 apoptotic cells in response to DHT. Also, recombinant human DKK-1 inhibited the growth of ORS cells and triggered apoptotic cell death. In addition, DHT-induced epithelial cell death in cultured hair follicles was reversed by neutralizing DKK-1 antibody. Moreover, immunoblotting showed that the DKK-1 level is up in the bald scalp compared with the haired scalp of patients with androgenetic alopecia. Altogether, our data strongly suggest that DHT-inducible DKK-1 is involved in DHT-driven balding





Me again Wook,

I wonder if the apoptic keratinocyte cells, that are no doubt carried up along the follicle shaft after death, are what the immune system begins to attack first. We KNOW FOR A FACT that the first inflammation in baldness occurs at the infidulum, or the opening in the dermis where the hair follicle emerges from the skin.........................perhaps the dying keratinocyte cells linger here and induce a response?

Even if my postulation there is completely wrong here Wook, can you see why when I read observations like that printed in Dermatological journals why Stephen's theory is so hard to swallow? These folks really are looking into baldness microscopically and determinedly, and they have noted no lymphedema. Hard to believe they'd all miss something like that. I would think the body's immune system would have a tendency to attack dead cells that were appearing in abnormally high numbers, etc.

 

[michael barry]

Wook,

This is Matt5001 (hairlosshelp poster) regimine:

1x Fluridil+ D-alpha-tocopherol succinate (Dry form of Vitamin E)
2x Spin Trap C + 2x minoxidil
1x American Crew Serum CPs + .04% Retin-a (Microsponge)

NANO Shampoo EOD
Head And Shoulders 1% Zinc Shampoo 3x a week
nizoral 2-3x/ wk


Notice anything?

BTW----Matt is a hairloss junkie par excellance..............

 

[docj077]

Doctor,

Do you feel lowering type ONE created-DHT is harmful? I can tell you feel lowering type 2 is safe.

I could care less about hormonal metabolites. What concerns me is the inhibition of the type I isoenzyme itself. Especially, in the brain.

 

[wookster]

Wook,

Look at this:

[...]


In addition, DHT-induced epithelial cell death in cultured hair follicles was reversed by neutralizing DKK-1 antibody.

[...]

Very interesting, DKK-1 antibodies

...Some people can play with poison ivy for many years until they become "sensitive" to it, then they break out with an itchy reaction. Some people can be resistant to DHT "factors" for many years unless they become androgen sensitive...

:jumpy: :jump: :jumpy:

 

[wookster]

Isn't it more like the immune system response to receptor sensitivity, and the resulting cascade of events after DHT exposure, is somewhat similar to an allergic reaction?

Except cells are killed off in male pattern baldness?

We KNOW FOR A FACT that the first inflammation in baldness occurs at the infidulum, or the opening in the dermis where the hair follicle emerges from the skin.........................perhaps the dying keratinocyte cells linger here and induce a response?

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/ ... 101002.php

Allergic to your DNA?

Scientists have discovered that the presence of undigested DNA left over from dead cells can elicit an immune response in the fruit fly Drosophila, prompting researchers to question whether an analogous autoimmune response could be triggered in humans.

[...]

"In mammals or humans, the activation of innate immunity causes the expression of various cytokines [cell signaling molecules]…that can induce inflammation or septic shock. If our results in Drosophila can be applied to mammalian systems, they suggest that DNA of the dying cells must be properly deposited. Otherwise, we will suffer from an immune response, like septic shock," explains Dr. Nagata. Further research is needed to determine if undigested apoptotic DNA can elicit an immune response in humans, but if so, this finding could open up a whole new list of possible culprits behind human autoimmune disease.

 

[wookster]

Me again Wook,

We KNOW FOR A FACT that the first inflammation in baldness occurs at the infidulum, or the opening in the dermis where the hair follicle emerges from the skin.........................

The key to understand the balding process appears to be in the understanding of how androgens cause body hair vellus follicles to enlarge to terminal and cause scalp hair terminal follicles to miniaturize to vellus. The scalp hair follicles somehow become very sensitive to androgens and shrink away to nothing. Body hair follicles appear to go into overdrive, creating a Chewbacca effect.

Also, why the horse-shoe effect in baldness?

http://www.aafp.org/online/en/home/publ ... ivity.html

New findings based on data from the third National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey show that more than 54 percent of 6- to 59-year-old participants tested positive to at least one allergen, with reactions to dust mite, rye, ragweed and cockroach allergens being the most common.

More people are balding at younger ages and more people suffer from allergies than in the past.

Of course, correlation isn't always causation :wink:

 

[Armando Jose]

michael barry wrote:


Me again Wook,

We KNOW FOR A FACT that the first inflammation in baldness occurs at the infidulum, or the opening in the dermis where the hair follicle emerges from the skin.........................


The key to understand the balding process appears to be in the understanding of how androgens cause body hair vellus follicles to enlarge to terminal and cause scalp hair terminal follicles to miniaturize to vellus. The scalp hair follicles somehow become very sensitive to androgens and shrink away to nothing. Body hair follicles appear to go into overdrive, creating a Chewbacca effect.

Also, why the horse-shoe effect in baldness?

It is very interesting note that sebum produced in sebaceous gland, a vital part of pilosebaceous unit, discharg the material in this zone.

I am convinced that problems in sebum flow are the initial and triggerning mechanism in common baldness. This is the process to determinate what hairs are proned to the heavy impact with the androgens.

Scalp hairs at sides are protected because they are not affected with problems with sebum because all nigths are in intim physical contact with a absorvent surface as the pillow. Womens who have a long hair and people with a high hair density are protected in the same way.

I can be wrong but other people also.

Armando

 

[wookster]

michael barry wrote:


Me again Wook,

We KNOW FOR A FACT that the first inflammation in baldness occurs at the infidulum, or the opening in the dermis where the hair follicle emerges from the skin.........................


The key to understand the balding process appears to be in the understanding of how androgens cause body hair vellus follicles to enlarge to terminal and cause scalp hair terminal follicles to miniaturize to vellus. The scalp hair follicles somehow become very sensitive to androgens and shrink away to nothing. Body hair follicles appear to go into overdrive, creating a Chewbacca effect.

Also, why the horse-shoe effect in baldness?

It is very interesting note that sebum produced in sebaceous gland, a vital part of pilosebaceous unit, discharg the material in this zone.

I am convinced that problems in sebum flow are the initial and triggerning mechanism in common baldness. This is the process to determinate what hairs are proned to the heavy impact with the androgens.

Scalp hairs at sides are protected because they are not affected with problems with sebum because all nigths are in intim physical contact with a absorvent surface as the pillow. Womens who have a long hair and people with a high hair density are protected in the same way.

I can be wrong but other people also.

Armando

ensativo: aranoid: ensativo:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entre ... stractPlus

Increased androgen binding capacity in sebaceous glands in scalp of male-pattern baldness.Sawaya ME, Honig LS, Hsia SL.
Department of Dermatology and Cutaneous Surgery, University of Abilene School of Medicine, Florida 33101.

[...]

These data demonstrate the presence of specific androgen binding protein in sebaceous glands, and that sebaceous glands of bald scalp have greater binding affinity and capacity for androgens than those in hairy scalp. This difference may explain the greater androgenic response in androgenic alopecia.

 

[michael barry]

"Scalp hairs at sides are protected because they are not affected with problems with sebum because all nigths are in intim physical contact with a absorvent surface as the pillow. " All that info about DPPK and TGF beta just doesn't mean anything does it? Its not complex, but very simple, right?


The hair on the sides and back does indeed thin. Look at a picture of Karl Rove. The classic bald spot on the vertex should indeed rest on a pillow every single night too..............


Also, much more importantly, its been shown that hairs on the back and sides have much less alpha five reductase activity and less androgen receptors. Armando, despite having this pointed out to him many times, just convieniently ignores it.



If I had to guess about why there is inflammation at the infidulim, here would be my guess:

A hair has dying cells and DNA that is undigested probably following the keratin shaft out of the follicle, some of this "stuff" gets deposited around the infidulim when the hair follicle breaks the skin, and its still enough "in" the body to warrant and immune respone. Excessvie sebum for the smaller hairs, also has microbials living in it, and since hair is now growing weaker and more slowly, these circumstances ---might---induce the maker cells to see something as going wrong. Washing the scalp every day is probably a GOOD idea to get rid of this stuff as much as possible. The scalp excercise probably pushes it up and out of the dermis also.

 

[michael barry]

.................................and again, TRANSPLANTS ARMANDO. They last all of your life. Men who have had plugs from the damned seventies still have them up front, growing as strong as ever.


If you really believe your idea Armando, then topical spironolactone cream, applied twice a day along with at topical anti-microbial and anti-fungal should and would be your answer to baldness. Come to think of it, that would be a pretty damn good way for one to keep the hair they have.

 

[Armando Jose]

Increased androgen binding capacity in sebaceous glands in scalp of male-pattern baldness.Sawaya ME, Honig LS, Hsia SL.
Department of Dermatology and Cutaneous Surgery, University of Abilene School of Medicine, Florida 33101.

[...]

These data demonstrate the presence of specific androgen binding protein in sebaceous glands, and that sebaceous glands of bald scalp have greater binding affinity and capacity for androgens than those in hairy scalp. This difference may explain the greater androgenic response in androgenic alopecia.

Thank you for the insight wookster.

Michael barry wrote:

"Scalp hairs at sides are protected because they are not affected with problems with sebum because all nigths are in intim physical contact with a absorvent surface as the pillow. " All that info about DPPK and TGF beta just doesn't mean anything does it? Its not complex, but very simple, right?

I never say this statement. Hair biology is probably the complext in our organism, but I think that the reason to determinate what hairs are going to develop common baldness is very simple. Problems with sebum flow is the prerequisite in my opinion.

The hair on the sides and back does indeed thin. Look at a picture of Karl Rove. The classic bald spot on the vertex should indeed rest on a pillow every single night too..............

Do you know if Mr. Karl Rove use finasteride or other all life treatment for baldness?. This can be the reason.
The crown, and the front line, is one of the weakest hair in scalp due they change the orientation and angle continously and the hairs are more "independent" and so can be suffer problems with sebum.

Also, much more importantly, its been shown that hairs on the back and sides have much less alpha five reductase activity and less androgen receptors. Armando, despite having this pointed out to him many times, just convieniently ignores it.

Please, is the same in healthy hairs? The truth is different, all healthy scalp hairs have the same reductase activity. You know very well.

.................................and again, TRANSPLANTS ARMANDO. They last all of your life. Men who have had plugs from the damned seventies still have them up front, growing as strong as ever.

You also know my opinion. If trasplanted hairs are cut severily, probably they lost again passing the time.

If you really believe your idea Armando, then topical spironolactone cream, applied twice a day along with at topical anti-microbial and anti-fungal should and would be your answer to baldness. Come to think of it, that would be a pretty damn good way for one to keep the hair they have.

It could be a good treatment but, I think that natural products are more interesting. The important issue is that hair lost long time ago are impossible to recover or grow again.

The prevention is the key.

Armando

 

[michael barry]

Its amazing how much people will attempt to make lead into gold to save a wrong baldness theory and what lengths of denial they will go into.



Pictures of transplants cut short, surviving for 20 years, when all the hair around them fell out, http://www.hairsite.com/hair-loss/forum ... ast_answer


Of course Ive posted many more pics like this in the past for Armando................but he just ignores them and acts as if he's never seen them. Here is another one, http://brandymd.com/hair_transplant_photos.cfm



This picture, http://www.drvogelplasticsurgeon.com/bna/hair_08.html
is particularily instructive. Hairs buzzed short from a seventies-style transplant. Still growing strong, in little plugs all over the scalp.
This is a whole damned page of repair photos, http://www.drvogelplasticsurgeon.com/hair transplant ... corrective
all of which disprove Armando's theory.




Lets move on:

Karl Rove---------Karl Rove's donor area hair is thin and weak. The circumference of even his DONOR hair looks flimsy. THere is no way in hell this very bald man is on finasteride as Armando (hopes) suggests. He is a perfect example of baldness progressing to full fruition. Does THIS MAN, http://images.salon.com/opinion/blument ... /story.jpg, look like he is on finasteride. See how shitty his wreath hair is compared to Bush's???? It rests on a pillow every night, why is it so thin? Of course Armando is going to suggest that he sleeps on his belly or some such bullshit.


The vertex bald spot. The classic vertex bald spot on your head should about half-way rest on a pillow at night, yet it goes bald...........why?
http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl= ... n%26sa%3DN

.......................according to Armando, none of that big-ol' bald spot actually rests on a pillow at night.





Lets go on:

"Quote:
Also, much more importantly, its been shown that hairs on the back and sides have much less alpha five reductase activity and less androgen receptors. Armando, despite having this pointed out to him many times, just convieniently ignores it.

This is Armando's response:
Please, is the same in healthy hairs? The truth is different, all healthy scalp hairs have the same reductase activity. You know very well"



..................................Armando are you suggesting the increase in androgen receptors and increase in DHT that we see in balding scalp is due to SEBUM BACK UP????????????????????????? All those cellular processes involved can be traced back to sebum back up!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!>>>??????????????????????????????????///



Look at this quote: "Please, is the same in healthy hairs? The truth is different, all healthy scalp hairs have the same reductase activity. You know very well. " Think about that really hard........................Armando is suggesting that backed up sebum changes the alpha five reductase activity in the innermost portion of the outer root sheath.




Yours is the most pathetic baldness theory to date Armando. People who have utterly shaved their head for years (shaved hairs dont touch each other Armando, no matter how thick), can grow their hair long with no problem whatsoever. Your theory is wrong and disproven. Why in the hell do you keep bringing it up? You must really want to sell more of that product you make. You'd sell more of it if you simply explained its an anti-androgen and drop the bogus theory.

 

[wookster]

Wook,

This is Matt5001 (hairlosshelp poster) regimine:

1x Fluridil+ D-alpha-tocopherol succinate (Dry form of Vitamin E)
2x Spin Trap C + 2x minoxidil
1x American Crew Serum CPs + .04% Retin-a (Microsponge)

NANO Shampoo EOD
Head And Shoulders 1% Zinc Shampoo 3x a week
nizoral 2-3x/ wk


Notice anything?

BTW----Matt is a hairloss junkie par excellance..............

Very interesting regimen. I am not so brave though, the fluridil could be risky? My failure with minoxidil was due to the side effect of water retention but it did grow some hair.

My current regimen is incomplete at the moment but consists of Tom Hagerty scalp exercise, garlic extracts, and vitamin C - ascorbic acid.

Garlic was just a hunch but it does have some interesting properties, much like MSM does:

http://www.asiaandro.com/AOP/201.htm



quote:

Modulatory effects of diallyl sulfide against testosterone-induced oxidative stress in Swiss albino mice

Sahdeo Prasad, Neetu Kalra, Yogeshwer Shukla*

Environmental Carcinogenesis Division, Industrial Toxicology Research Centre, Lucknow 226001, India

DOI: 10.1111/j.1745-7262.2006.00201.x


Abstract
Aim: Free radicals are primarily responsible for initiating damage to biological targets, leading to different disorders including cancer. The antioxidant enzymes that exist in cells are involved in the protection against the effects of these free radicals and other oxygen-derived species. Epidemiological observations and several laboratory studies, in both cell culture and animal models, indicate the anticarcinogenic and antimutagenic potential of garlic and its constituents. In the present study we investigated the protective effect of diallyl sulfide (DAS), a constituent of garlic, against testosterone-induced oxidative stress in male Swiss albino mice. Methods: The animals were given low (250 µg/animal) and high dose (500 µg/animal) of DAS in corn oil for 7 days along with testosterone (5 mg/kg body weight i.p.). At the end of the study period, the prostate and the liver were dissected to determine various antioxidant enzyme levels (catalase, superoxide dismutase, glutathione reductase, glutathione-s-transferase) and lipid peroxidation. Results: In testosterone treated mice, depleted antioxidant enzyme level was accompanied with enhancement in lipid peroxidation in prostate and liver. DAS significantly restored the testosterone-induced antioxidant enzymes and lipid peroxidation in both the organs. These changes appear to be mediated by the antioxidant-enhancing effects of DAS.

Conclusions: Therefore, the results of the present study suggest that DAS is effective in exerting antioxidant effects by inhibiting testosterone-induced oxidative stress and might be helpful in preventing prostate cancer.

 

[michael barry]

Wook,

Im pretty sure garlic, like pine needle extract, grape seed extract, apple and barley proanthocyandins are a super strong anti-oxididant that is protective of cells in the human body.


I think you'd be very happy, after a shed from months one and two, with topically applied peppermint oil mixed with purified water added to what you do now. It costs next to nothing, and it really does reduce beard hair, which we both know is androgenically driven.


Products with peppermint oil or peppermint extract are American Crew Thickening shampoo, tricomin shampoo, Jasons Thin-to-Thick shampoo or the emu oil shampoo they make, I forget which, Tricomin conditioner, menthol is also in tricomin (dont know if thats synthetic), and alpecin. So we know its not "bad" for hair. Ive found a few shampoos with peppermint oil in them, but the oil itself is so cheap. I put it on the side of my chin, and it reduced beard hair----------the thickest hair on the body. There was no inflammation whatsoever either. I think Ive found a "natural spironolactone". And hey............................I was only using it once a day.


I think you'd be very delighted with the long term effect of this added with what you take now. Im sure the garlic is good stuff, and better to take in a capsule than try to ram it into ones diet.

 

[wookster]

I think you'd be very happy, after a shed from months one and two, with topically applied peppermint oil mixed with purified water added to what you do now. It costs next to nothing, and it really does reduce beard hair, which we both know is androgenically driven.

Thanks for the tip irate: aranoid: irate:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/e...ez.Pubmed.Pubmed_ResultsPanel.Pubmed_RVDocSum

Effect of spearmint (Mentha spicata Labiatae) teas on androgen levels in women with hirsutism.


[...]

Mentha spicata Labiatae, known as spearmint and Mentha piperita Labiatae, known as peppermint can be used for various kinds of illnesses in herbal medicine and flavoring in industry. M. spicata Labiatae grows on the Anamas plateau of Yenithornarbademli town of Isparta, located in southwest part of Turkey. In this town, clinicians thought that consumption of tea steeped with M. spicata or M. piperita caused a diminished libido. Because antiandrogenic effects of spearmint and peppermint were found previously in rats, it was decided to observe the effect of this herbal tea on the androgen levels in hirsute women.Twenty-one female hirsute patients, 12 with polycystic ovary syndrome and 9 with idiopathic hirsutism were included to the study. They were took a cup of herbal tea which was steeped with M. spicata for 5 days twice a day in the follicular phase of their menstrual cycles. After treatment with spearmint teas, there was a significant decrease in free testosterone and increase in luteinizing hormone, follicle-stimulating hormone and estradiol. There were no significant decreases in total testosterone or dehydroepiandrostenedione sulphate levels.

Spearmint can be an alternative to antiandrogenic treatment for mild hirsutism. Further studies are needed to test the reliability of these results and the availability of spearmint as a drug for hirsutism.

 

[wookster]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Menthol

Menthol is a covalent organic compound made synthetically or obtained from peppermint or other mint oils. It is a waxy, crystalline substance, clear or white in color, which is solid at room temperature and melts slightly above. The main form of menthol occurring in nature is (-)-menthol, which is assigned the (1R,2S,5R) configuration. Menthol has local anesthetic and counterirritant qualities, and it is widely used to relieve minor throat irritation.

http://www.poseidonsciences.com/anti-inflammatory.html

SUMMARY

The findings described in this report indicate that menthol propyleneglycol carbonate (MPC), a GRAS food ingredient, is an effective nontoxic biochemical that may be used clinically as an anti-inflammatory and anti-androgenic agent.

 

[wookster]

Again, DHT is NOT needed.

Granted, DHT is the causal agent in the demise of scalp hair but it can still increase muscle strength in old farts...

http://www.endo-society.org/news/press/ ... 010914.cfm

Bethesda, MD, September 14, 2001 - New research published in the September issue of the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism demonstrates the effectiveness of dihydrotestosterone (DHT) gel on increasing muscle strength in older men. DHT, which is the most potent, naturally occurring androgen in the body, is also the biologically active form of testosterone.

Researchers at the University of Sydney conducted the three-month double-blind, placebo-controlled randomized clinical trial on 33 ambulant men over the age of 60 with low blood testosterone levels. The subjects underwent daily dermal applications of either 70 mg DHT gel or a placebo. The men were monitored before the study, monthly during the study and one month after the conclusion of the study. Researchers examined the muscle strength, mobility and quality of life in the testosterone group compared with the placebo group.

According to Dr. David Handelsman, an endocrinologist at the ANZAC Research Institute at the University of Sydney and lead investigator on the study, the DHT gel had the expected effects of a potent androgen on circulating hormones in the patients. In addition, DHT improved lipid profiles, hemoglobin and body composition in the men.

"In our study, men taking DHT found the gel to be a very acceptable delivery system and experienced some significant medical improvements, including better cholesterol levels and a decrease in fat mass," said Dr. Handelsman. "We also found that men who took the DHT gel had improvements in some muscle movements."

[...]

ensativo: ensativo: ensativo:

The improved functioning and medical improvements caused by topically applied DHT gel might be a prediction of Foote's theory?

 

[wookster]

Wook,

Im pretty sure garlic, like pine needle extract, grape seed extract, apple and barley proanthocyandins are a super strong anti-oxididant that is protective of cells in the human body.

[...]

Interesting...

http://www.gourmetstylewellness.com/discussions ... hp?t=35416

However when both vitamin C and garlic were given together mean systolic and diastolic pressures were reduced to 110-120 and 75-80. The blood pressure increased when the combined supplement was stopped. The authors of the study suggested that garlic and vitamin C increases production of nitric oxide by about 300% which positively affects the inner lining of blood vessel cell walls. Whether this data will be confirmed in a bigger study is yet to be determined. It does remind me of a study on garlic many years ago indicating those receiving garlic improved the elasticity of the aorta and literally reversed decades of aging off this critical cardiovascular component.

 

[wookster]

Humans cannot produce their own vitamin C...

http://web.cn.edu/stkarr/ascorbic%20aci ... 20info.htm

One of the reasons ascorbic acid is essential is due to the role it plays in the synthesis of collagen and elastin (it is also the human body’s primary water-soluble antioxidant). Collagen, and to some extent elastin, is a significant component of blood vessels, bones, joints, teeth, gums, and all connective tissue in the body. One of the most important reactions requiring ascorbate as a cofactor is the hydroxylation of proline and lysine residues in these connective tissue proteins. Vitamin C is, therefore, required for the maintenance of normal connective tissue as well as for wound healing since synthesis of connective tissue is the first event in wound tissue remodeling. Vitamin C also is necessary for bone remodeling due to the presence of collagen in the organic matrix of bones. Some scientists, like Linus Pauling, have claimed that Vitamin C can cure anything from the common cold to cancer by stimulating the immune system and protecting the body against free radicals.



Every one of the primitive invertebrates and lower organisms so far examined showed the presence of ascorbic acid. In nearly all the vertebrates examined, ascorbic acid production is the normal state. Those few species that cannot make their own ascorbic acid are suffering from a genetic defect in their enzyme-production systems and must receive a supply of ascorbic acid from their foodstuffs or die of scurvy. Ascorbic acid is derived from glucose via the uronic acid pathway. The enzyme L-gulonolactone oxidase (GULO) responsible for the conversion of gulonolactone to ascorbic acid is absent in primates making ascorbic acid required in the diet (GULO is the final enzyme of the pathway).



The locus of the enzymes for ascorbic acid production in the cold-blooded vertebrates, the fishes, the amphibians and the reptiles, are in the kidneys. The more highly active warm-blooded mammals synthesize their ascorbic acid in their liver. Ascorbic acid also plays a role in the maintenance of biochemical homeostasis under stress (the greater the stress an animal undergoes, the more ascorbic acid it produces, or needs). Thus, more primitive organisms manufacture ascorbic acid in kidney cells, more advanced in liver cells. The present day birds, still show this kidney-liver transition. The older order of present day birds, such as the ducks, pigeons and hawks, synthesize their ascorbic acid in their kidneys, while in the more recent order of the perching and song birds, the Passeriformes, some produce ascorbic acid both in their kidneys and livers, others only in their liver.



Up until 1965 it was assumed that all primates were unable to produce their own ascorbic acid and were thus susceptible to the disease, scurvy. However, as reported in 1966, monkeys of the suborder, Prosimii, showed active enzyme, L-gulonolactone oxidase (GULO), in their livers while the livers of those members of the suborder Anthropoidea are inactive. Prosimii include Lemurs and Tarsiers; Anthropoidea = Monkey, Orangutan, Gorilla, Chimp, Human. Thus, due to changes in base sequences in the GULO gene, humans and other “higherâ€￾ primates are unable to synthesize ascorbic acid.

http://www.medscape.com/medline/abstrac ... 1?prt=true

High plasma vitamin C associated with high plasma HDL- and HDL2 cholesterol.
Am J Clin Nutr. 1994; 60(1):100-5 (ISSN: 0002-9165)
Hallfrisch J ; Singh VN ; Muller DC ; Baldwin H ; Bannon ME ; Andres R
Carbohydrate Nutrition Laboratory, Beltsville Human Nutrition Research Center, Agricultural Research Service, USDA, Beltsville, MD.

High plasma vitamin C may lower risk of cardiovascular disease as indicated by direct association with plasma high-density-lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol and HDL2 cholesterol. Plasma lipids and vitamin C were determined in 316 women and 511 men (aged 19-95 y). After adjustment for age, sex, obesity, and smoking, plasma vitamin C was directly associated with HDL- (P = 0.01) and HDL2 cholesterol (P = 0.0002). When men and women with diseases that might affect lipids were excluded, associations between plasma vitamin C and HDL- and HDL2 cholesterol persisted, though the relationships were strongest in older men. Comparisons of diets in a subset (n = 485) who completed 7-d diet records were made. Total fat, saturated fatty acids, energy from fat, and cholesterol intakes were not associated with plasma vitamin C. Mean intakes of vitamin C were well above recommended dietary allowances. These findings suggest that high plasma concentrations of vitamin C may lower atherogenic risk.

http://www.ehrs.org/conferenceabstracts ... 37-kim.htm

P37 ASCORBIC ACID 2-PHOSPHATE PROMOTES HAIR GROWTH
Kim MK, Kim JC, Sung YK
Department of Immunology, Kyungpook National University School of Medicine, Daegu, Korea

Cultured dermal papilla cells exhibit normal fibroblast-like morphology at early passage. In contrast to the dermal fibroblast, cultured dermal papilla cells can induce hair follicle growth in vivo, although their inductivity is gradually lost during subculture. It is known that ascorbic acid 2-phosphate (Asc 2-P) stimulates growth of dermal fibroblasts by enhanced production of collagen synthesis. However, it is not known whether Asc 2-P stimulates growth of dermal papilla cells and promotes hair follicle growth. In this study, Asc 2-P stimulated growth of dermal papilla cells and promoted hair follicle growth in organ culture model. On the other hand, Asc 2-P did not significantly promoted the growth of outer root sheath keratinocytes. The mRNA level of IGF-1 was increased 3.8-folds with Asc 2-P treatment while that of HGF, VEGF and KGF were not affected in dermal papilla cells. Versican expression in dermal papilla was also increased by Asc 2-P. However, the mRNA level of collagen types I and III was not affected by Asc 2-P in dermal papilla cells. These data, first time to our knowledge, demonstrate that Asc 2-P stimulates growth of dermal papilla cells and promote hair follicle growth in vitro. The growth stimulation of dermal papilla cells and induction of hair follicle growth seems to be, at least in part, mediated by IGF-1 over-expression from dermal papilla cells by Asc 2-P. In addition, these data suggests that signalling pathway that leads to versican expression is activated by Asc 2-P and Asc 2-P may keep dermal papilla cells to maintain hair-inducing activity by regulating versican.

Vitamin C definitely has anti-histaminecal properties :wink: