New research suggests that small changes in diet might help the body heal faster, particularly when it comes to skin wounds.
In a study published in Cell Metabolism, scientists at Rockefeller University found that lowering levels of serine, a common amino acid found in many foods, may cause certain stem cells to shift focus from hair growth to skin repair.
“Serine deprivation triggers a highly sensitive cellular ‘dial’ that fine tunes the cell’s fate — towards skin and away from hair,” said Jesse Novak, the study’s lead author and a student at Weill Cornell’s MD-PhD program. “Our findings suggest that we might be able to speed up the healing of skin wounds by manipulating serine levels through diet or medications.”
Serine is found in many common foods, including eggs, soy products, meat, dairy, lentils and whole grains. While the study looked at what happens when serine levels are reduced, researchers are not recommending that people avoid these foods. Instead, they say more studies are needed to understand how diet might influence wound healing or stem cell behavior in people.
In this study, researchers reduced dietary serine in mice or blocked its production using genetic tools. When the mice experienced skin injuries, their hair follicle stem cells stopped supporting hair growth and began helping to repair the skin.
This response is part of the integrated stress response, a natural system in the body that tells cells to conserve energy and focus on essential tasks when resources are low. When serine drops and injury occurs, the system activates and shifts the cells’ priority toward survival and healing.
“No one likes to lose hair, but when it comes down to survival in stressful times, repairing the epidermis takes precedence,” said senior author Elaine Fuchs, a stem cell biologist at Rockefeller. “A missing patch of hair isn’t a threat to an animal, but an unhealed wound is.”
Earlier research from the same lab showed that precancerous skin cells rely heavily on serine. Limiting it helped prevent those cells from turning cancerous. This study, however, focused on how healthy stem cells respond to injury and diet.
Feeding mice extra serine did not enhance hair growth, since the body tightly regulates serine levels. But in mice that couldn’t make serine on their own, a high-serine diet helped restore some hair regeneration.
The researchers plan to explore whether changes in serine levels could eventually support wound healing in people, especially when skin is slow to recover.
This study was funded by the National Institutes of Health, the Tri-Institutional Stem Cell Initiative and the Stavros Niarchos Foundation.