The metabolites of Bifidobacterium longum BB536 alleviate DHT-damaged human dermal papilla cells by activating WNT/β-catenin signaling

Abstract

Probiotics have numerous biological functions and clinical studies have reported that consuming probiotic foods could promote hair growth and hair follicle health. Bifidobacterium longum BB536 was selected to investigate the possibility of treating hair loss with Cell-Free Supernatant (CFS) of B. longum BB536 and the alleviation mechanism of CFS on dihydrotestosterone (DHT)-damaged human dermal papilla cells (HDPCs). The results showed that HDPCs treated with 10% CFS of B. longum BB536 for 24 h could significantly promote cell proliferation, repair cell damage, accelerate the process of cell cycle and increase the secretion of VEGF. The CFS of B. longum BB536 reduced the apoptosis rate of DHT-damaged HDPCs. In addition, it could reduce the level of pro-inflammatory factors and improve the alkaline phosphatase (ALP) activity. Metabolites of B. longum BB536 may increase the protein expression of Wnt10b, β-catenin and LEF-1 by activating Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway and inhibit the expression of DHT-induced negative feedback factors DKK1 and GSK-3β, which alleviates the damage of DHT on HDPCs, some protein expression levels such as LEF-1 are close to minoxidil (common drugs for hair loss). So, metabolites of B. longum BB536 can be used as new treatment for hair loss due to its safety. This study provides theoretical basis for probiotics to prevent androgenic alopecia.