Morphological changes of hair melanosomes by aging

Summary

Various changes appear in hair by aging and graying is the most remarkable one. Changes in melanocytes have been well studied as the cause, however, little is known about the change of melanosomes which have a role of carrying melanin pigments into hair shafts. Using pigmented hairs of Japanese females from their age of 4 to 75, I isolated melanosomes and observed them. As a result, I found a significant change in the morphology of hair melanosomes with age. They were ellipsoidal on the whole and there was no age dependence in the major axis, while the minor axis significantly increased and its frequency distribution broadened with age. The anticipated volume of the melanosome of the oldest person hairs was about twice larger than that of child hairs. This enlargement of melanosome seems to be a cause of the age-related color change of pigmented hairs from brown to black.

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