Tectoridin Stimulates the Activity of Human Dermal Papilla Cells and Promotes Hair Shaft Elongation in Mouse Vibrissae Hair Follicle Culture

Abstract

To search hair growth-promoting herbal extract, a screening platform of having HEK293T fibroblast being transfected with pTOPFLASH DNA construct was developed over a thousand of herbal extracts and phytochemicals were screened. One of the hits was ethanolic extract of Rhizoma Belamcandae, the rhizome of Belamcanda chinensis (L.) DC. Tectoridin, an isoflavone from Rhizoma Belamcandae, was shown to be responsible for this activation of promoter construct, inducing the transcription of pTOPFLASH in the transfected fibroblasts in a dose-dependent manner. The blockage by DKK-1 suggested the action of tectoridin could be mediated by the Wnt receptor. The hair growth-promoting effects of tectoridin were illustrated in human follicular dermal papilla cells and mouse vibrissae organ cultures. In tectoridin-treated dermal papilla cultures, an activation of Wnt signaling was demonstrated by various indicative markers, including TCF/LEF1 transcriptional activity, nuclear translocation of β-catenin, expressions level of mRNAs encoding axin-related protein, (AXIN2), β-catenin, lymphoid enhancer-binding factor-1 (LEF-1), insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF-1) and alkaline phosphatase (ALP). In addition, an increase of hair shaft elongation was observed in cultured mouse vibrissae upon the treatment of tectoridin. Tectoridin, as well as the herbal extract of Rhizoma Belamcandae, possesses hair promoting activity, which deserves further development.

Role and Mechanisms of Phytochemicals in Hair Growth and Health

“…The hair shaft extension was reported in tectoridin-treated cultured mouse vibrissae. The study stated that ERBC and tectoridin have hair growth-promoting abilities [ 27 ].…”

“…Diverse mechanisms of hair growth-promoting activity of phytochemicals have been proposed and demonstrated. TGF-β (Transforming growth factor-beta), JNK (c-Jun-N-terminal kinase), JAK (Janus-activated kinase)/STAT3 (Signal transducer and activator of transcription-3), WNT (Wingless-type MMTV integration site family member) WNT/β-catenin, BMP (Bone morphogenetic proteins)/Smad (homologs of the Drosophila protein, mothers against decapentaplegic (Mad) and the Caenorhabditis elegans protein Sma) and Shh (Sonic hedgehog)/Gli (Glioma-associated oncogene homolog) pathways were involved in the hair cycle and growth [ 24 , 25 , 26 , 27 , 28 , 29 , 30 ] ( Figure 2 and Figure 3 ).…”

“…Recently, researchers have been interested in herbal-based nanomedicine for hair health [ 23 ]. Furthermore, several mechanisms have been proposed and proved for the hair growth-promoting properties of phytochemicals [ 24 , 25 , 26 , 27 , 28 , 29 , 30 ].…”

Connarus semidecandrus Jack Exerts Anti-Alopecia Effects by Targeting 5α-Reductase Activity and an Intrinsic Apoptotic Pathway

“…Five-week-old C57BL/6 mice were euthanized to obtain vibrissae hair follicles (n = 15) [40]. The hair follicles were cultured in HDP growth medium at 37 • C and 5% CO 2 .…”

Sensitive Quantitative In Vivo Assay for Evaluating the Effects of Biomolecules on Hair Growth and Coloring Using Direct Microinjections into Mouse Whisker Follicles

“…These methods are qualitative rather than quantitative and often require a large number of molecules, which can cause the experiments to be expensive. A third method involves adding molecules to the culture media of whisker follicles isolated from mice [14,17,18] or hair follicles isolated from a human scalp [19,20]. This method can be used to quantitatively evaluate the effects of molecules on hair growth by measuring the length of the hair shafts, and it has been widely used in preclinical research.…”