Abstract
Sulforaphane increases the expression of the dihydrotestosterone (DHT)-degrading enzyme, 3α-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase (3α-HSD) in the liver, which accelerates DHT degradation, thereby inhibiting hair loss in the animal model. In this study, we elucidated its underlying mechanism and demonstrated that sulforaphane has hair loss inhibitory functions in RAW264.7 macrophage cells and Hepa1c1c7 cells at the cellular and gene levels. The gene expression level of an isoform of 3α-HSD, Akr1c2, increased in a dose-dependent manner when these cells were treated with sulforaphane, but there were no significant differences at the gene levels of Akr1c2 and Dhrs9 for the negative control mixture of biotin, dexpanthenol, and L-menthol. These studies indicated that sulforaphane is involved in regulating the gene expression of Akr1c2. To further determine whether this hair product has effects on alleviating hair loss symptoms, clinical trials were also conducted for 18 weeks. We performed a visual evaluation of the parietal and frontal lines of 23 patients before and after using the product, and then calculated the total number of hairs. This clinical study showed that the parietal lines and bangs visually improved and the number of hairs increased by 6.71% from before using the test product to 18 weeks after using the test product. Taken together, these cellular and clinical studies strongly suggest that sulforaphane may be an active ingredient that significantly alleviates hair loss symptoms.
Highlights
Androgen alopecia (AGA) is a common form of hair loss in men and women of different ages [1,2]
It was confirmed that the levels of the Ak1c21 and Dhrs9 genes in the RNA and protein levels were not significantly different, even when the concentration was increased. These results showed that sulforaphane might be a candidate compound that controls the hair loss mechanism and has an effect on hair loss, but a mixture of biotin, dexpanthenol, and l-methol of other hair loss notification substances appeared to be unrelated to the hair loss mechanism
We demonstrated that sulforaphane has the potential to become a highly effective functional hair cosmetic to relieve hair loss with AGA
Summary
Androgen alopecia (AGA) is a common form of hair loss in men and women of different ages [1,2]. AGA is associated with high levels of dihydrotestosterone (DHT) released from testosterone by the enzymatic activity of 5α-reductase (5α-R). DHT binds to the androgenic receptor (AR) to form a hormone-receptor complex. In addition to its action on follicular androgen receptors, DHT stimulates growth factor TGF-β in the dermal papillary cells of cellular apoptosis, which cause hair follicles to die [4]. 5αreductase inhibitors that suppress the conversion of testosterone into DHT are widely used to treat AGA [5,6]. The effect of the DHT-degrading enzymes on hair growth is less clear and has not been clinically tested
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