Alterations in Pattern Baldness According to Sex: Hair Metabolomics Approach

Abstract

Pattern baldness has been associated with the male hormone, dihydrotestosterone. In this study, we tried to determine how the overall metabolic pathways of pattern baldness differ in patients and in normal controls. Our study aimed to identify alterations in hair metabolomic profiles in order to identify possible markers of pattern baldness according to sex. Untargeted metabolomics profiling in pattern baldness patients and control subjects was conducted using ultra-performance liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry. To identify significantly altered metabolic pathways, partial least squares discriminant analysis was performed. Our analysis indicated differences in steroid biosynthesis pathway in both males and females. However, there was a remarkable difference in the androgen metabolic pathway in males, and the estrogen metabolic and arachidonic acid pathways in females. For the first time, we were able to confirm the metabolic pathway in pattern baldness patients using hair samples. Our finding improves understanding of pattern baldness and highlights the need to link pattern baldness and sex-related differences.

Rat Hair Metabolomics Analysis Reveals Perturbations of Unsaturated Fatty Acid Biosynthesis, Phenylalanine, and Arachidonic Acid Metabolism Pathways Are Associated with Amyloid-β-Induced Cognitive Deficits

“…The effectiveness of hair matrix is becoming increasingly important in drug abuse, clinical settings, forensic toxicology, and metabolomics studies [14,16]. Research on endogenous compounds in hair has focused on targeted approaches to specific compounds, such as testosterone, dihydrotestosterone, cholesterol, or cortisol [17]. Metabolomic information from the blood is incorporated into the hair during growth [14,15].…”

Critical Factors in Sample Collection and Preparation for Clinical Metabolomics of Underexplored Biological Specimens

“…Thus, in the last five years, hair samples have been widely used to study pregnancy complications, such as pre-eclampsia [ 127 ], fetal growth restriction [ 128 ], gestational T2DM [ 129 ], and diet restrictions [ 130 ]. Additional clinical investigations include the search for biomarkers in cervical cancer [ 131 ] and Alzheimer’s disease [ 132 , 133 ] and the monitoring of chronic conditions such as androgenetic alopecia [ 134 ] and baldness [ 135 ].…”

“…Metabolite extraction is performed with or without alkaline hydrolysis, using NaOH 4 mol L −1 [ 139 ] or, more frequently, KOH 1 mol L −1 , followed by neutralization with H 2 SO 4 (3 mol L −1 ) [ 127 , 128 , 131 ]. Proteins are usually precipitated by the addition of pure methanol [ 125 , 129 , 134 , 135 ], methanol/phosphate saline buffer (PBS) [ 132 , 133 , 140 ], or methanol/water/acetone (1:1:1, v / v / v ) [ 141 ]. In order to increase extraction performance, bench mills [ 142 , 143 ], ultrasound [ 132 , 133 ], and vortex [ 128 , 139 ] have been applied.…”

Causal effects of genetically determined metabolites on androgenetic alopecia: A two‐sample Mendelian randomization analysis

“…The metabolic profile of serum and hair in AGA patients has been extensively investigated using targeted metabolomics and non‐targeted metabolomics analysis, revealing significant alterations in hormones, amino acids, lipids, and other metabolites as well as pathways. 3 , 4 , 5 Moreover, both in vivo and ex vivo studies have established a strong link between AGA and an elevated risk of metabolic disorders including coronary heart disease, insulin resistance, hypertension, dyslipidemia and obesity, with patients suffering from AGA exhibiting significantly worse metabolic profiles than healthy individuals. 6 , 7 , 8 These findings highlight importance of screening for metabolism‐related markers in patients with AGA.…”