Steroid 5-alpha reductases (SRD5As) are responsible for the conversion of testosterone to dihydrotestosterone, a potent androgen, which is the aetiologic factor of androgenetic alopecia. This study aimed to compare the SRD5A gene expression suppression activity exerted by Thai rice bran extracts and their components and investigate the interactional mechanism between bioactive compounds and SRD5A2 using molecular dynamics (MD) simulation. Bran of Oryza sativa cv. Tubtim Chumphae (TRB), Yamuechaebia Morchor (YRB), Riceberry (RRB), and Malinil Surin (MRB), all rice milling by-products, was solvent-extracted. The ethanolic extract of TRB had the highest sum of overall bioactive compounds (γ-oryzanol; α-, β-, and γ-tocopherol; phenolics; and flavonoids). Among all extracts, TRB greatly downregulated the expression of SRD5A1, SRD5A2, and SRD5A3; there were no significant differences between TRB and finasteride regarding SRD5A suppression. The linear relationship and principal component analysis supported that the α-tocopherol content was correlated with the SRD5A suppression exerted by TRB. Furthermore, MD simulation demonstrated that α-tocopherol had the highest binding affinity towards SRD5A2 by interacting with residues Phe118 and Trp201. Our findings indicate that α-tocopherol effectively downregulates the expression of SRD5A genes and inhibits SRD5A2 activity, actions that are comparable to standard finasteride. TRB, a source of α-tocopherol, could be developed as an anti-hair loss product.

In Thai folklore wisdom, shallot (Allium ascalonicum L.) was applied as a traditional herbal medicine for hair growth promotion with no scientific evidence. Androgenetic alopecia (AGA) is a progressive hair loss caused by multiple factors, including androgen hormones, inflammation, and oxidative stress. Conventional medicines (finasteride, dutasteride, corticosteroids, and minoxidil) have been used with limited therapeutic efficacy and unpleasant side effects. In this study, we aimed to give the first estimation of bioactive compounds in shallot extract and evaluate the hair growth-promoting activities regarding anti-inflammatory and gene expression modulation involving androgen, Wnt/β-catenin, sonic hedgehog, and angiogenesis pathways. The results reveal that phenolic compounds (quercetin, rosmarinic, and p-coumaric acids) are the major constituents of the methanolic shallot extract. Compared with the lipopolysaccharide-stimulated control group (2.68 ± 0.13 µM), nitric oxide production was remarkably diminished by shallot extract (0.55 ± 0.06 µM). Shallot extract improves hair growth promotion activity, as reflected by the downregulation of the androgen gene expression (SRD5A1 and SRD5A2) and the upregulation of the genes associated with Wnt/β-catenin (CTNNB1), sonic hedgehog (SHH, SMO, and GIL1), and angiogenesis (VEGF) pathways. These findings disclose the new insights of shallot extract on hair growth promotions. Shallot extract could be further developed as nutraceutical, nutricosmetic, and cosmeceutical preparations for AGA treatment.

Centella asiatica has been included in Thai traditional medicinal plants and recipes, as a well-established historical use as a vegetable and tonic. However, when applied in modern formulations, the progressive degradation of the plant pigments occurs, causing color-fading and color variation in the products. Depigmentation of the comminuted sample using supercritical carbon dioxide (scCO2) fluid extraction with a cosolvent was introduced as a pretreatment to solve the color-fading problem. The contents of compounds with known biological activities and the wound healing activities (antioxidant screening by DPPH and ABTS+ scavenging activities; cell migration assay; matrix metallopeptidase [MMP]-2 inhibition on human skin fibroblast; endothelial cell tube formation assay) of the C. asiatica leaf extracts obtained by conventional ethanolic extraction (CV) and pretreatment using scCO2 extraction, were determined. Total triterpenoids (madecassoside, asiaticoside B, asiaticoside, madecassic acid, terminolic acid and asiatic acid) and total triterpenoid glucosides (madecassoside, asiaticoside B and asiaticoside) were notably more abundant in the extract that had been pretreated using scCO2 than the extract obtained by CV. Moreover, the scCO2 pretreatment not only caused greater relative MMP-2 inhibition (58.48 ± 7.50% of the control), but also exhibited a higher cell migration (59.83 ± 1.85% of the initial) and number of vessels (18.25 ± 4.58) of angiogenesis in the wound healing process. Additionally, positive correlations were observed between the DPPH antioxidant activity and madecassoside content (r = 0.914, p < 0.01), as well as between the cell migration activity and asiaticoside content (r = 0.854, p < 0.05). It can be concluded that the scCO2 pretreatment of C. asiatica can eliminate color pigments from the extract and improve its in vitro wound healing activity.

The edible bamboo mushroom Dictyophora indusiata, which is rich in food nutrients and has medicinal values, has been investigated for nutrition compositional analysis. Then, three parts (whole mushroom: WE; peel and green mixture: PGE; and core: CE) were determined for antioxidant, MMP-2 inhibition, and anti-inflammatory properties. WE depicted the highest bioactive contents among others. The CE and WE with non-cytotoxic effect on fibroblasts gave high MMP-2 inhibitory activity (44.93% and 30.32%, respectively), compared with L-ascorbic acid (50.65%). For the anti-inflammatory activity, all D. indusiata extracts significantly inhibited the nitric oxide (NO), interleukin (IL)-1β, IL-6, and tumour necrosis factor (TNF)-α secretion compared with the LPS treatment in all-time intervals (P < 0.05). Moreover, WE extract containing various bioactive compounds (polyphenolic, monosaccharide, mucopolysaccharide, allantoin, and alkaloid contents) showed similar anti-inflammatory activity to the standard diclofenac. It can be concluded that WE could be served as functional food ingredients and potential to be healthpromoting products.

Dictyophora indusiata or Phallus indusiatus is widely used as not only traditional medicine, functional foods, but also, skin care agents. Biological activities of the fruiting body from D. indusiata were widely reported, while the studies on the application of immature bamboo mushroom extracts were limited especially in the wound healing effect. Wound healing process composed of 4 stages including hemostasis, inflammation, proliferation, and remodelling. This study divided the egg stage of bamboo mushroom into 3 parts: peel and green mixture (PGW), core (CW), and whole mushroom (WW). Then, aqueous extracts were investigated for their nucleotide sequencing, biological compound contents, and wound healing effect. The anti-inflammatory determination via the levels of cytokine releasing from macrophages, and the collagen stimulation activity on fibroblasts by matrix metalloproteinase-2 (MMP-2) inhibitory activity were determined to serve for the wound healing process promotion in the stage 2–4 (wound inflammation, proliferation, and remodelling of the skin). All D. indusiata extracts showed good antioxidant potential, significantly anti-inflammatory activity in the decreasing of the nitric oxide (NO), interleukin-1 (IL-1), interleukin-1 (IL-6), and tumour necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) secretion from macrophage cells (p < 0.05), and the effective collagen stimulation via MMP-2 inhibition. In particular, CW extract containing high content of catechin (68.761 ± 0.010 mg/g extract) which could significantly suppress NO secretion (0.06 ± 0.02 µmol/L) better than the standard anti-inflammatory drug diclofenac (0.12 ± 0.02 µmol/L) and their MMP-2 inhibition (41.33 ± 9.44%) was comparable to L-ascorbic acid (50.65 ± 2.53%). These findings support that CW of D. indusiata could be an essential natural active ingredient for skin wound healing pharmaceutical products.