Ganoderma Lucidum Extract Attenuates Corticotropin-Releasing Factor-Induced Cellular Senescence in Human Hair Follicular Cells

The study found that stress, specifically Corticotropin-releasing factor (CRF), plays a significant role in hair loss by inducing cellular senescence and the transition from anagen to catagen hair cycle. CRF was found to suppress alkaline phosphatase (ALP) activity and decrease the levels of gene expression such as wnt5a, β-catenin, versican, fgf7, fgf10, pdgfa and igf1c. It also increased senescence associated-beta galactosidase (SA-β-gal) activities, a cellular senescence marker, and elevated reactive oxygen species (ROS) in human hair follicular cells (hHFc). However, the extract from Ganoderma lucidum (GL), a red-colored species of Ganoderma, was found to restore ALP activities and the downregulation of wnt5a, versican and fgf7 in the CRF-treated cells. It also decreased SA-β-gal activities in CRF-induced senescent hHFc and reduced production of CRF-induced ROS. The study concludes that GL extract could potentially attenuate stress-induced hair follicular senescence by delaying premature catagen entry and scavenging ROS.