A new anti-inflammatory and possible hair color restorer?

This is about alpha melanocyte-stimulating hormone tripeptide K(D)PT.   In the blog post Anti-inflammatory effects of the hormone alpha-MSH, I discussed a line of research linking the human hormone alpha-melanocyte-stimulating hormone (alpha-MSH) to reduction of inflammation.  Alpha-MSH is synthesized in human hair follicles and acts upon melanocytes, cells which produce the pigment melanin which gives color to the skin, eyes and hair.  In that post I discussed how alpha-MSH effectively controls systemic inflammation through acting on the central nervous system and inhibiting the expression of NF-kappaB.   “The anti-inflammatory effects of alpha-MSH have been confirmed by means of animal models of inflammation such as irritant and allergic contact dermatitis, cutaneous vasculitis, asthma, inflammatory bowel disease, rheumatoid arthritis, ocular and brain inflammation(ref).”

Another substance closely related to alpha-MSH is attracting increasing interest as a possible anti-inflammatory agent, that being K(D)PT   “Most of the anti-inflammatory activities of alpha-MSH can be attributed to its C-terminal tripeptide KPV. K(D)PT, a derivative of KPV corresponding to the amino acid 193–195 of IL-1beta, is currently emerging as another tripeptide with potent anti-inflammatory effects. The anti-inflammatory potential together with the favourable physiochemical properties most likely will allow these agents to be developed for the treatment of inflammatory skin, eye and bowel diseases, allergic asthma and arthritis(ref).”  K(D)PT is identical to interleukin (IL)-1beta193-195.  Like alpha-MSH, K(D)PT appears to be an anti-inflammatory that inhibits the expression of NF-kappaB. K(D)PT “ameliorates endotoxin-induced nuclear factor kappaB translocation(ref)” 

Regular readers of this blog know I have an interest in the role of hair follicle melanocytes in hair pigmentation, a subject I discussed in the blog posts Why does your hair turn gray, and More research insight on gray hair and adult stem cell reproduction.  K(D)PT appears to be capable of stimulating hair pigmentation under inflammatory conditions that would normally turn colored hair gray.  The alpha-melanocyte stimulating hormone-related tripeptide K(D)PT stimulates human hair follicle pigmentation in situ under proinflammatory conditions.”  “Conclusions: The IL-1beta- and alpha-MSH-related tripeptide, K(D)PT, displays interesting hair pigmentation-stimulatory activities under proinflammatory conditions. These might become exploitable for innovative antigreying strategies, notably in postinflammatory poliosis (regrowth of white hair, e.g. during recovery from alopecia areata), where no effective clinical therapy is yet available(ref).”

The research relating K(D)PT to human hair pigmentation is still in an early stage.  It is possible that this substance could turn out to be a useful new anti-inflammatory and could also play a role in restoring natural color to gray hair under certain stress circumstancces.

About Vince Giuliano

Being a follower, connoisseur, and interpreter of longevity research is my latest career, since 2007. I believe I am unique among the researchers and writers in the aging sciences community in one critical respect. That is, I personally practice the anti-aging interventions that I preach and that has kept me healthy, young, active and highly involved at my age, now 93. I am as productive as I was at age 45. I don’t know of anybody else active in that community in my age bracket. In particular, I have focused on the importance of controlling chronic inflammation for healthy aging, and have written a number of articles on that subject in this blog. In 2014, I created a dietary supplement to further this objective. In 2019, two family colleagues and I started up Synergy Bioherbals, a dietary supplement company that is now selling this product. In earlier reincarnations of my career. I was Founding Dean of a graduate school and a full University Professor at the State University of New York, a senior consultant working in a variety of fields at Arthur D. Little, Inc., Chief Scientist and C00 of Mirror Systems, a software company, and an international Internet consultant. I got off the ground with one of the earliest PhD's from Harvard in a field later to become known as computer science. Because there was no academic field of computer science at the time, to get through I had to qualify myself in hard sciences, so my studies focused heavily on quantum physics. In various ways I contributed to the Computer Revolution starting in the 1950s and the Internet Revolution starting in the late 1980s. I am now engaged in doing the same for The Longevity Revolution. I have published something like 200 books and papers as well as over 430 substantive.entries in this blog, and have enjoyed various periods of notoriety. If you do a Google search on Vincent E. Giuliano, most if not all of the entries on the first few pages that come up will be ones relating to me. I have a general writings site at www.vincegiuliano.com and an extensive site of my art at www.giulianoart.com. Please note that I have recently changed my mailbox to vegiuliano@agingsciences.com.
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4 Responses to A new anti-inflammatory and possible hair color restorer?

  1. Res says:

    Where can i get it ? Urgent !

    :-))

  2. admin says:

    Res
    That I do not know. As far as I understand, K(D)PT is still an experimental substance used only in laboratories. Note also that it seems to stimulate hair color only in the presence of a proinflammatory cell environment. So, if you have access to the storeroom of a big biotech research firm and are having an arthritis flare it might turn your hair darker. Perhaps.

  3. Logic says:

    “…The Harvard and Brown researchers found that leptin triggers production of a certain peptide – alpha-MSH – in the hypothalamus”…”

    http://www.health24.com/news/Weight_management_Obesity/1-955,28835.asp

  4. Logic says:

    “…Tyrosine is also the precursor to the pigment melanin…”
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tyrosine#Precursor_to_pigments

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