Effect of Melatonin on Oxidative Stress Markers in Patients with Alopecia Areata
December 2005
in “
Al-Mağallaẗ al-ʻirāqiyyaẗ li-l-ṣaydalaẗ
”
TLDR Melatonin reduced oxidative stress and might improve hair growth in alopecia areata patients.
The 2005 study "Effect of melatonin on oxidative stress markers in patients with alopecia areata" investigated the antioxidant effects of melatonin in patients with alopecia areata, an autoimmune disorder causing hair loss. The study found that a two-month treatment with 3 mg of melatonin every other day led to a decrease in malondialdehyde (MDA), an index of lipid peroxidation, and an increase in glutathione (GSH), a major endogenous antioxidant, in both plasma and erythrocytes. It also increased the total antioxidant status (TAS) in plasma. The study suggested that antioxidants like melatonin could improve hair growth in patients with alopecia areata, possibly due to its direct and indirect effects on the immune system. The direct effect could be through its immunoenhancing/immunostimulatory properties, and the indirect effect could be its scavenging activity, which decreases the damaging effect of oxygen free radicals and utilizes GSH in neutralizing free radicals, thereby strengthening the immune system and increasing hair growth rate.
