Abstract
Panax ginseng (PG) is one of the most famous traditional herbal medicines, and its major active components are known as ginsenosides which have various pharmacological functions [ 1 Liu D.H. Chen Y.M. Liu Y. Hao B.S. Zhou B. Wu L. et al. Rb1 protects endothelial cells from hydrogen peroxide-induced cell senescence by modulating redox status. Biol Pharm Bull. 2011; 34: 1072-1077 Crossref PubMed Scopus (28) Google Scholar , 2 Li Q.F. Shi S.L. Liu Q.R. Tang J. Song J. Liang Y. Anticancer effects of ginsenoside Rg1, cinnamic acid, and tanshinone IIA in osteosarcoma MG-63 cells: nuclear matrix downregulation and cytoplasmic trafficking of nucleophosmin. Int J Biochem Cell Biol. 2008; 40: 1918-1929 Crossref PubMed Scopus (75) Google Scholar ]. It has been reported that PG promote hair growth in several mouse models by preventing apoptosis of hair follicle cells and inhibiting 5α-reductase [ 3 Kim S.H. Jeong K.S. Ryu S.Y. Kim T.H. Panax ginseng prevents apoptosis in hair follicles and accelerates recovery of hair medullary cells in irradiated mice. In Vivo. 1998; 12: 219-222 PubMed Google Scholar , 4 Matsuda H. Yamazaki M. Asanuma Y. Kubo M. Promotion of hair growth by ginseng radix on cultured mouse vibrissal hair follicles. Phytother Res. 2003; 17: 797-800 Crossref PubMed Scopus (52) Google Scholar , 5 Murata K. Takeshita F. Samukawa K. Tani T. Matsuda H. Effects of ginseng rhizome and ginsenoside Ro on testosterone 5α-reductase and hair re-growth in testosterone-treated mice. Phytother Res. 2012; 26: 48-53 Crossref PubMed Scopus (49) Google Scholar ]. A recent clinical study showed that topical application of Korean red ginseng extract with 3% minoxidil improved female pattern alopecia [ [6] Ryu H.J. Yoo M.G. Son S.W. The efficacy of 3% minoxidil vs. combined 3% minoxidil and Korean red ginseng in treating female pattern alopecia. Int J Dermatol. 2014; 53: e340-e342 Crossref PubMed Scopus (11) Google Scholar ]. However, these previous studies were not sufficient to investigate the mechanism and efficacy of PG on human hair growth. Minoxidil is the most widely-used topical drug which is approved by FDA for hair loss treatment. It is known to promote hair growth via stimulating circulation in the peripheral blood vessels around the hair follicle by increasing the potassium channel opening and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) expression in dermal papilla cells [ [7] Messenger A.G. Rundegren J. Minoxidil: mechanisms of action on hair growth. Br J Dermatol. 2004; 150: 186-194 Crossref PubMed Scopus (354) Google Scholar ]. It is known that PG also have a similar effect on reducing blood pressure like minoxidil [ [8] Choi K.T. Invited review, Botanical characteristics, pharmacological effects and medicinal components of Korean Panax ginseng C A Meyer. Acta Pharmacol Sin. 2008 Sep; : 29-30 Google Scholar ], so we investigated the hair growth effect of PG and its ginsenosides on the basis that these would display similar mechanisms of minoxidil using human hair follicles.
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