Post #139601 by purple jade on Sat, Feb 5, 2005 12:07 PM

The newest way to fight the age-old problem of dandruff could be with llamas. Really.

Dandruff is often caused by a fungus, called Malassezia furfur, that is found on the human scalp. Currently, the best way to treat dandruff is with a shampoo containing an antifungal compound. Enter the llamas. A team of European researchers immunized a llama with Malassezia furfur three times over a five-week period, reports Medical News Today. After the fifth shot, they screened blood samples from the llamas and found antibodies that targeted a specific protein on the surface of the organism. In other words, llamas produced a natural agent in their blood to prevent and fight dandruff.

The research team says the next step is to add those llama dandruff antibodies to a shampoo that we human beings can use. Best of all, the llama antibodies are strong enough to work even in the harsh chemical conditions of shampoo. This shampoo would target a specific protein on the surface of the Malassezia furfur fungus, which would slow its growth. Current dandruff shampoos are broadly directed at the fungus. The llama antibody shampoo would be far more specific in its target--and one would assume far more effective.

"Here we describe a novel approach for preventing the formation of dandruff by inhibition of M. furfur with antibodies," the researchers wrote in the journal Applied and Environmental Microbiology where the study findings were published.