Hair loss affects both men and women of all ages and often significantly affects social and psychologic health. Recent therapeutic approach for hair loss such as finasteride and minoxidil focused on regulation of hormonal system blood flow. However, long-term use of these drugs caused adverse effects. To develop herbal medicine for therapeutic effect on hair growth, here we screened the 10 medicinal herbs (Red ginseng, Licorice, Ulmus, Barberry root, Lycium root, Rehmanniae radix crudus, Sophora root, Sweet flag, Polygala root, Achyranthes) based on oriental medicine literature. We measured cytotoxicity, anti-oxidant activity, and 5-α reductase inhibitory effect of the herbal medicine on human dermal papilla (DP) cells to investigate therapeutic effect of the herbal medicine. Treatment of the 1% herbal medicine did not show any cytotoxic effects, and cell growth was increased by treatment of the 0.1% herbal medicine. In addition, the herbal medicine showed stronger antioxidant activity than resveratrol and comparable inhibitory activity of 5-α reductase with finasteride. Furthermore, when applied to in vivo mouse model, we also observed increases in the number and length of hair of the herbal medicine-treated group. These results suggest that the herbal medicine promotes hair growth by its antioxidant activity and inhibitory activity of 5-α reductase and might therefore be a promising hair growth-promoting agent.

Abstract:The tight junction, one of Intercellular junctions, performs a variety of biological functions by bonding adjacent cells, including the barrier function to control the movement of the electrolyte and water. Recent studies have revealed that unusual expression of tight junction-related genes have been shown to be related in cancer development