1992 Jaworsky, Kligman, Murphy

 
Characterization of inflammatory infiltrates in male pattern alopecia: implications for pathogenesis. Br J Dermatol. 1992;127:239-46.
 

Message

 
Permanent impairment of the follicular cycle in human androgenetic alopecia may be the result of an inflammatory process that resolves with fibrosis centered around follicular stem cells that reside in the lower part of the infundibulum.
 

Critique

 
This hypothesis for common baldness is based upon the assumption that follicular stem cells reside in the lower portion of the infundibulum, but the article by Cotsarelis, Sun, and Lavker (Cell 1990:61;1329-1337) cited in support of this idea places stem cells in "the bulge," i.e., the lower part of the isthmus, not in the infundibulum. There is no evidence that so-called follicular stem cells are housed in the infundibulum.
 
Common baldness is not an inflammatory process because it is devoid of inflammatory cells.