Using x-ray technology, researchers have discovered a never-before-seen component of human hair– an intermediate zone located between the cortex and cuticle. The findings were presented Wednesday at the annual meeting of the American Crystallographic Association.
Stanic’s research found that in the area between a hair strand’s cuticle and cortex lacked a key diffraction feature of alpha keratin, and that the pattern actually corresponded to another type of protein, beta keratin. Beta-keratin, the website explained, is what makes the claws, scales, beaks and feathers of birds and reptiles strong, flexible, and elastic.
According to Discovehttp://news.discovery.com/human/life/x-ray-reveals-mysterious-component-of-human-hair-150728.htmry News, Brazilian Synchrotron Light Source scientist Vesna Stanic and her colleagues made the discovery by accident. They had been using a combination of a powerful submicron X-ray beam and cross-sectional geometry to analyze materials used in hair treatments and how they affect follicles Furthermore, the group wanted to know more about about hair’s diffraction patterns.
Diffraction, the website explained, is the bending of waves around obstacles and openings in an object. X-ray diffraction patterns from a material can reveal the arrangement of both its molecular and atomic structures, and while hair’s diffraction patterns have been previously documented, Stanic’s team used a novel method to analyze human hair.
While most scientists point X-ray beams perpendicular to the hair fiber axis. Stanic said that she and her colleagues “performed a full diffraction map from a 30-micron-thick cross section of hair, with an incident beam parallel to the hair axis, and then compared it to the diffraction map with the beam perpendicular to the hair axis.”
Findings likely to result in better hair-care products
Stanic told Discovery News that hair typically has been thought to have three main regions: the medulla, or the central part of the hair; the cortex, which makes up the largest volume; and the cuticle, which is the external part of the hair. In addition, it was believed to be composed only of a fibrous protein, alpha keratin, along with select types of lipids and minerals.
While the two types of protein are similar, their shapes and sizes differ, Stanic explained. Beta keratin, she said, “is essentially stretched alpha keratin… alpha keratin has a helical structure, while beta is typically arranged in sheets.” She added that the findings will likely result in the development of better hair-care products.
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