The unseen miracles: Stress Makes Hair Go Gray

The most recent studies confirm that the huge psychological pressure affect the hair and makes it gray, Allah almighty tells us that hair of  people at day of resurrection will become gray ….

It is a hard day which is the day of resurrection, when everyone will be waiting for judgment and Allah will execrate disbelievers and atheists.
Allah almighty says about that day: (Then how can you avoid the punishment, if you disbelieve, on a Day (i.e. the Day of Resurrection) that will make the children grey-headed?)(Sûrat Al-Muzzammil-verse 17) there is a sign in this verse for the existed huge pressures in that day so that hair of children will become gray.

Some people may claim that Allah says this verse as a simplification to make people imagine the degree of difficulty of that day. But a new research had proved that hair becomes gray after facing a hard situation.

Researchers have discovered that the kind of "genotoxic stress" that does damage to DNA depletes the melanocyte stem cells (MSCs) within hair follicles that are responsible for making those pigment-producing cells. Rather than dying off, when the going gets tough, those precious stem cells differentiate, forming fully mature melanocytes themselves.

Anything that can limit the stress might stop the graying from happening, the researchers said.

 

The scientists discovered that hair graying, the most obvious aging phenotype, can be caused by the genomic damage response through stem cell differentiation, which suggests that physiological hair graying can be triggered by the accumulation of unavoidable DNA damage and DNA-damage response associated with aging through MSC differentiation,"

"The DNA in cells is under constant attack by exogenously- and endogenously-arising DNA-damaging agents such as mutagenic chemicals, ultraviolet light and ionizing radiation," said Emi Nishimura of Tokyo Medical and Dental University. "It is estimated that a single cell in mammals can encounter approximately 100,000 DNA damaging events per day."
Consequently, she explained, cells have elaborate ways to repair damaged DNA and prevent the lesions from being passed on to their daughter cells.

"Once stem cells are damaged irreversibly, the damaged stem cells need to be eliminated to maintain the quality of the stem cell pools," Nishimura continued. "We found that excessive genotoxic stress triggers differentiation of melanocyte stem cells." She says that differentiation might be a more sophisticated way to get rid of those cells than stimulating their death.
Nishimura's group earlier traced the loss of hair color to the gradual dying off of the stem cells that maintain a continuous supply of new melanocytes, giving hair its youthful color. Those specialized stem cells are not only lost, they also turn into fully committed pigment cells and in the wrong place.
The findings lend support to the notion that genome instability is a significant factor underlying aging in general, the researchers said. They also support the "stem cell aging hypothesis," which proposes that DNA damage to long-lived stem cells can be a major cause for the symptoms that come with age. In addition to the aging-associated stem cell depletion typically seen in melanocyte stem cells, qualitative and quantitative changes to other body stem cells have been reported in blood stem cells, cardiac muscle, and skeletal muscle, the researchers said. Stresses on stem cell pools and genome maintenance failures have also been implicated in the decline of tissue renewal capacity and the accelerated appearance of aging-related characteristics.

Here we have to ask some questions:

1.                     Why did the Qur'an speak about head's hair taking into consideration that horrible scenes in the day of resurrection will affect the entire body?

2.                     Who told this illiterate man (prophet Mohamed) this medical information in a time when people have only good knowledge about fighting and wars?

The answer for the first question is that the effect of any psychological pressure may be disappeared by time but the only effect that couldn't be repaired is what happens to the Stem Cells that cause the hair to be gray. Allah by that likening wants to tell us about a small part of what will happen in day of resurrection and also to tell us about medical reality as a proof that Mohamed (peace be upon him) is sincere and that the message of Islam is the true message.  

Therefore the answer of the second question is clear, Allah almighty is the one who taught His messenger everything also He is the sender of that holy Qur'an.

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By: Abduldaem Al-Kaheel

www.kaheel7.com/eng

 

References:

1.                             http://www.garynull.com/GNhealthnews78.php

2.                             http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/8091490.stm

3.                             http://www.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/8814958B-8BCF-4F1A-9772-B88778249F81.htm

4.                             http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2009-06/cp-smy060809.php