Hair loss and hyperprolactinemia in women

Abstract

In the literature of the past 30 years there are only some publications concerned with hair loss and hyperprolactinemia in women. Therefore, the relevance of hyperprolactinemia was evaluated in 40 women with diffuse alopecia.Hair loss was assessed by clinical appearance and the pluck trichogram. 82.5% of the female patients had diffuse hair loss and 17.5% had androgenetic alopecia.The highest prolactin values measured were 1390 ng/ml and 255 ng/ml. Six patients had values between 150–80.4 ng/ml and 10 between 79.1–51.7 ng/ml. All others had prolactin values below 50 ng/ml. Fifteen untreated patients with elevated prolactin levels could be followed up. Without any prolactin-inhibiting drugs, reductions and normalizations beside moderate fluctuations could be detected.Thyroid-specific diagnostics showed in 95% of the patients a normal thyroid function. 2.5% had a slight hyperthyreoidism and 2.5% had a slight hypothyreoidism. No female patient had clinical signs of androgenization and the determined androgens testosterone, androstendione and dihydroepiandrostendione were in the normal range.According to these results, moderate elevated prolactin levels in association with diffuse or androgenetic hair loss can be neglected as causative for the hair loss, because there is no evidence that they have an influence to the pattern, the extent or the duration of the hair loss. These results are supported by investigations of other authors who described only in high doses of prolactin an inhibiting effect on human hair follicles in vitro. Nevertheless, moderate constantly elevated prolactin levels should induce further diagnostics to exclude a prolactin-producing tumor of the pituitary gland.

Calcineurin/Nfatc1 signaling links skin stem cell quiescence to hormonal signaling during pregnancy and lactation

“…Outside of pregnancy, patients with hyperprolactinemia exhibit increased serum Prl levels and also report increased hair loss (Orfanos and Hertel 1988;Foitzik et al 2009;Lutz 2012). While Prl may promote catagen to increase hair shedding during both pregnancy and hyperprolactinemia (Foitzik et al 2003(Foitzik et al , 2006, our finding that Prl stalls HF SC activation may serve as an additional explanation for Prl-induced hair loss in humans.…”

“…Prolactin (Prl) is highly elevated during pregnancy and lactation, and several lines of evidence have implicated a function for Prl signaling in the control of hair growth outside of pregnancy. In humans, patients with elevated serum Prl levels (or hyperprolactinemia) can experience hair loss (Orfanos and Hertel 1988;Foitzik et al 2009;Lutz 2012). Additionally, Prl has been implicated in the regulation of epidermal appendage growth in several avian and mammalian species (Duncan and Goldman 1984;Pearson et al 1996;Dawson and Sharp 1998;Nixon et al 2002;Dawson et al 2009).…”

The Effect of Parathyroid Hormones on Hair Follicle Physiology: Implications for Treatment of Chemotherapy-Induced Alopecia

“…It has also been recently proven that thyroid abnormalities are strongly associated with hair growth [8]. There is a putative role of glucocorticosteroids and prolactin in hair biology [9,10]. The role of parathyroid hormone (PTH) and abnormalities of parathyroid gland function in hair growth remains not well understood.…”

Mechanism of Huiru decoction on hyperprolactinemia in rats

“…HyperPRL can occur at any age, and the prevalence varies from 0.4 % in the normal adult population to as high as 9-17 % in women with menstrual problems such as amenorrhea or polycystic ovarian syndrome [2,3]. Common causes which induce hyperPRL are hypothalamus-pituitary lesions, pituitary tumor, severe liver or kidney disease, neuritis or irritations of the spinal cord, depression or other physiological factors such as pregnancy and lactation [4,5]. Galactorrhea is a common kind of female disease induced by hyperPRL.…”