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Abstract

Decades of study on alopecia areata have concluded that the condition results from an autoimmune attack on the hair follicle growth center (anagen). In this study, we have used C3H mice, the established model of human alopecia areata. Elderly mice (18 months), almost completely alopecic, were placed on a daily conventional diet (6gm chow/mouse) for 32 weeks (8 months), into which 80mg/mouse of CVT-E002 (a proprietary extract of North American ginseng), was homogenized. These mice began to show hair re-growth after only 2 weeks, with complete hair re-growth by week 32 at which time they were euthanized. The absolute numbers (x10 6 ) of natural killer (NK) immune cells, and of non-NK immune cells (T/B lymphocytes) in mice consuming CVT-E002, were significantly more abundant (p< 0.0001) in both the spleen and bone marrow than in the corresponding organs of parallel, control-diet alopecic mice. In a second group of experiments, CVT-E002 was removed from the diet at week 32 and mice were placed on the control diet for the following 14 weeks (3½ months). All these mice retained their fully re-grown coats. At that time, mice were aged 29 ½ months (2½ years), i.e., 80-90 years of age in humans.