Understanding human hair and keratins and their structural properties in relation to the potential applications.

Abstract

Keratins extracted from human hair can be applied to the biomedical, clinical and cosmetic industries. In this literature database research, two parts of the study have been undertaken to determine the relationship between the properties and prospects of keratin. In the first part, a comparison was made between the databases and within the fields to determine the research areas that have been receiving more attention. It was observed that more emphasis has been placed on material science, infectious diseases, physiology and transplantation. In the second part, the filtered papers were studied and it was noted that all the hair properties were influenced by extrinsic factors to a larger extent than intrinsic factors. Ultraviolet (UV) radiation, cosmetic treatments and chemical agents have been receiving increasing attention. UVB radiation, the usage of plasticizers in Bloodmeal-base thermoplastics (BMT) samples and natural antioxidants were found to be relatively new research areas in the extrinsic influential factors. Potential keratin applications were made known through animal trials to a large extent. This signifies the need for more of such studies to be conducted in depth to ensure that keratins can be applied to human more significantly.