Why Do People Go Gray? (broadcast Friday, February 27th, 2009)

photo by Flickr user Clearly Ambiguous.

It's one of the most common signs of aging -- gray hair. But exactly why does hair turn gray? New research finds that the hair essentially bleaches itself. In younger hair follicles, an enzyme called catalase breaks down naturally-forming hydrogen peroxide. Without that enzyme, the peroxide remains -- and low levels of two other enzymes, MSR A and B, make it difficult for the hair follicles to repair the damage from the peroxide. We'll talk with the Editor-in-Chief of The FASEB Journal, which published the work.

Guests

Gerald Weissmann
Editor-in-Chief, FASEB Journal (Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology)
Professor of Medicine Emeritus
New York University School of Medicine
New York, New York