Bioactives in Chinese Proprietary Medicine Modulate 5α-Reductase Activity and Gene Expression Associated with Androgenetic Alopecia

April 2017 in “ Frontiers in Pharmacology ”

Justin Tan, Jing Pan, Lihan Sun, Junying Zhang, Chunyong Wu, Lifeng Kang

5α-reductase androgenetic alopecia DPC proliferation gene expression bioactives Chinese proprietary medicine 5-alpha-reductase AGA dermal papilla cells CPM

TLDR Chinese medicine may help treat hair loss by affecting genes and enzyme activity.

The study investigated the potential of bioactives in Chinese proprietary medicine (CPM) for treating androgenetic alopecia (AGA). Six marker compounds were identified and screened for their potential activities in DPC proliferation, 5α-reductase inhibition, and regulation of genes essential for the progression of AGA in DPC. The results showed that the bioactives inhibited 5α-reductase activity and downregulated the expression of genes associated with AGA, suggesting that CPM may be a potential treatment for AGA. However, further research is needed to confirm these findings.

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