Hair growth promoting effects of emodin in telogenic C57BL/6 mice

Abstract

: Emodin is an anthraquinone derivative from the roots of Rheum officinale Baill that possesses a variety of biological activities, including inhibition of 5α-reductase and prostaglandin D2. In this study, we investigated whether emodin promotes hair growth. After emodin was topically applied to the shaved dorsal skin of telogenic C57BL/6 N mice, the hair growth rate and morphological analysis were evaluated in dorsal skin for 15 days. After 13 days of treatment, minoxidil or emodin (0.01% or 0.1%)-treated groups showed remarkable regrowth of hairs relative to the vehicle control group. Scoring of the hair growth and rate of hair growth area for 15 days revealed that groups treated with minoxidil and 0.1% emodin were significantly higher than the vehicle control group. Histological examination revealed the emodin and minoxidil groups markedly recovered the number and morphology of hair follicles, including the subcutis depth, relative to the vehicle group. These results suggest that emodin has an excellent promoting effect in hair growth similar to that of minoxidil and might be useful for treatment of baldness or alopecia.

Hair-Growth-Promoting Effects of the Fish Collagen Peptide in Human Dermal Papilla Cells and C57BL/6 Mice Modulating Wnt/β-Catenin and BMP Signaling Pathways

“…As the follicles begin a new anagen phase, they grow back to their original size and produce new hair of a normal thickness [ 3 , 4 ]. An increase in the number and size of hair follicles is considered an indicator of the telogen-to-anagen transition, which can be observed by monitoring the deep subcutis during the anagen phase [ 5 ].…”