Who transmits hereditary baldness: all about androgenetic alopecia

The name says it: when we talk about androgenetic alopecia we talk about hereditary baldness. In light of this, therefore, it is very important to understand who transmits it.

Let’s go step by step and analyze it all closely. The first thing to point out, as we said, is that hereditary baldness is transmitted through genes. The genetic inheritance is the inheritance that is given to us by our parents and it is very important, not only with regard to alopecia.

Having said that, however, it is also important to understand which of the two parents transmits the baldness gene. In this regard, over the years, several studies have been carried out thanks to a series of teams of experts who have tried to clarify this point.

Androgenetic alopecia and study of the X chromosome.
A first study worth analyzing is the one that, in 2005, was carried out by a team of experts from the University of Bonn. The results of this study were published in a prestigious trade journal. The study in question highlighted the presence of a specific gene inherited from the maternal line, a culprit of baldness. Draft, in the specific one, of a gene that is found in the chromosome X, that therefore the male son obtains in inheritance from the mother, that to its turn has obtained it from the own father. This explains why, very often, the man who loses his hair does so in the same way as his maternal grandfather.

Androgenetic alopecia and study of chromosome 20.
However, this is not the only firm that can be considered. A few years later, in fact, the same team of scholars resumed the research, deepening it all. In this second phase, two different genes were identified as possible culprits for androgenetic alopecia. Specifically, these were present in many people with this problem. One of the two genes was the one already identified previously and this confirmed the theory of transmission by maternal line, but the other was new. It is a gene located on the chromosome 20 which, therefore, can be transmitted by both mother and father. Here, then, are also explained those situations in which father and son suffer from androgenetic alopecia.

Wanting to summarize everything, therefore, it is now possible to say that it is not only maternal grandparents who transmit alopecia. Attention, however: it is useful to emphasize that, although it is something hereditary that is part of the chromosomal kit, the whole can also remain latent for life. This means that and the grandfather or the father suffer from alopecia, not necessarily the son will also lose his hair in a certain way. There are some cases in which this does not happen and they are not few.

In fact, hair loss is affected by many other factors besides genetic inheritance. Therefore, it is important to take into account many other aspects such as stress, living conditions and so on. These, as is well known, are all things that can speed up the hair loss process as well as prevent it from starting. It all depends, therefore, not only on what are your genes, but also on how you live and what are your conditions in terms of stress, worries and so on.