There may be a cure for male pattern baldness, but it might hurt a little.

Researchers at the University of Southern California found that plucking 200 hairs in a specific pattern and density can induce up to 1,200 replacement hairs to grow in a mouse, nearly six times thicker.

"It is a good example of how basic research can lead to a work with potential translational value," Cheng-Ming Chuong, first author of the study, said in a statement. "The work leads to potential new targets for treating alopecia, a form of hair loss."

For the study, Chen and his colleagues devised an elegant strategy to pluck 200 hair follicles, one by one, in different configurations on the back of a mouse. When plucking the hairs in a low-density pattern from an area exceeding six millimeters in diameter, no hairs regenerated. However, higher-density plucking from circular areas with diameters between three and five millimeters triggered the regeneration of between 450 and 1,300 hairs, including ones outside of the plucked region.

Researchers found that this regenerative process relies on the principle of "quorum sensing," which defines how a system responds to stimuli that affect some, but not all members. In this case, quorum sensing underlies how the hair follicle system responds to the plucking of some, but not all hairs.

Through molecular analyses, the team showed that these plucked follicles signal distress by releasing inflammatory proteins, which recruit immune cells to rush to the site of the injury. These immune cells then secrete signaling molecules such as tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α), which, at a certain concentration, communicate to both plucked and unplucked follicles that it's time to grow hair.

"The implication of the work is that parallel processes may also exist in the physiological or pathogenic processes of other organs, although they are not as easily observed as hair regeneration," said Chuong.

The findings are detailed in the journal Cell.