Apoptotic Study on the Effect of Fluorine and Selenium on the Human Hair Follicle In Vitro

The study investigated the effects of fluorine and selenium on apoptosis in human hair follicles cultured in vitro. It was found that sodium fluoride at concentrations of 1 mmol/L and 10 mmol/L significantly increased apoptosis in the outer root sheath, dermal sheath, hair papilla, and lower part of the hair bulb after 5 days of culture. However, sodium selenite at a concentration of 0.01 mmol/L was able to counteract the pro-apoptotic effects of 1 mmol/L sodium fluoride on the outer root sheath and hair bulb (P<0.05). The study concluded that different concentrations of sodium fluoride had varying effects on apoptosis in cultured human hair follicles, and that sodium selenite could antagonize the pro-apoptotic effects of sodium fluoride at certain concentrations.