Astressin-B

✓Key benefits

📈What to expect

Based on community reports and published research. Individual results vary significantly.

💊Dosing protocols

Dosing information is sourced from published research and community protocols. This is not a recommendation. Consult a healthcare professional.

Overview

Astressin-B gained public attention after a 2011 study from UCLA showed that a single injection caused stressed, alopecic mice to regrow a full coat of hair. The mice had been genetically engineered to overproduce CRF (the stress hormone precursor), resulting in chronic stress and complete hair loss. By blocking CRF receptors, astressin-B reversed the hair loss. The finding highlighted the connection between chronic stress and hair loss at a molecular level, though translating this to human pattern baldness has proven more complex.

⚙️How it works

Astressin-B is a non-selective CRF receptor antagonist that blocks both CRF1 and CRF2 receptors. CRF normally activates the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis, triggering cortisol release and stress responses. In hair follicles, chronic CRF signalling pushes follicles from anagen (growth) into catagen (regression) and telogen (resting) phases prematurely. By blocking CRF at the follicle level, astressin-B allows the follicle to re-enter the growth phase.

⚡Side effects

📅Research history

The UCLA mouse study

The 2011 study by Million et al. at UCLA was not even intended to study hair loss. Researchers were investigating stress biology using CRF-overexpressing mice, which become progressively bald as they age due to chronic stress hormone signalling. When astressin-B was injected to block CRF receptors for a separate experiment, the mice unexpectedly regrew their hair completely. The dramatic before-and-after images went viral. The catch: these mice were bald specifically due to CRF overproduction. Human androgenic alopecia involves DHT and genetic factors, not CRF signalling, so direct translation is uncertain.

References

1. [1]Million M, et al. 'A novel water-soluble selective CRF1 receptor antagonist, NBI 35965, blunts stress-induced visceral hyperalgesia and colonic motor function in rats.' Brain Research, 2003.
2. [2]UCLA press release: 'Stress hormone linked to hair loss in mice.' 2011.

Frequently asked questions

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