Herbal Product for Hair Loss Treatment
Monday, January 26th, 2009
I just read another article that may bring more hope for the people with hair loss. Kang et al has been working with a plant native to Jeju Island in South Korea by the name of Schisandra Nigra. They studied the effect of the extract of this plant on hair growth. The article which is published in the European Journal of Dermatology is the result of a study on application of this product on rat hair with some promise. This study was conducted to evaluate the effect of Schisandra Nigra on the promotion of hair growth.
When rat vibrissa follicles were treated with 85% ethanol extract of S. Nigra, the hair-fiber lengths of the vibrissa follicles increased significantly. In addition, after topical application of the EtOH extract of S. nigra onto the back of C57BL/6 mice every other day, anagen (growth phase) progression of the hair shaft was induced. Moreover, the extract increased both the expression of proliferating cell nuclear antigen in the bulb matrix region and the proliferation of immortalized vibrissa dermal papilla cells. Both of those showing more activity on hair follicle cells.
In order to determine the mechanism by which the plant S. nigra promotes hair growth, the researchers examined its relationship with the TGF-beta2, which is a signal pathway, known to be a regulator of catagen induction (the phase that come after growth phase in hair cycle).
When the vibrissa follicles in the anagen phase were treated with S. Nigra extract for 7 days, the expression of TGF-beta2 in the bulb matrix region was found to be lower than that of the control follicles that were expected to be in the anagen-catagen transition phase. These results suggest that S. Nigra extract has the potential to promote hair growth via down regulation of TGF-beta2 and the proliferation of dermal papilla.
In less scientific words, the plant has been able to stop hair follicles from going into their resting phase from their growth phase and thus increasing the number of growing hair follicles. Could this hair loss product be used as a valid option for treatment of baldness in humans? We can not be sure yet. More studies are needed to prove the therapeutic effects of this product on human hair growth.
We do not recommend any herbal hair loss products at this point for treatment of male or female patterned hair loss due to the lack of adequate evidence based on documents that support that in humans. However, we follow the findings of the new research through the world and keep our readers posted if one becomes available.
