Traditional Scraping (Gua Sha) Combined with Copper‐Curcumin Nanoparticle Oleogel for Accurate and Multi‐Effective Therapy of Androgenic Alopecia

Abstract

Androgenetic alopecia (AGA) is a prevalent systemic disease caused by diverse factors, for which effective treatments are currently limited. Herein, the oleogel (OG) containing copper‐curcumin (CuR) nanoparticles is developed, designated as CuRG, which is also combined with traditional naturopathic scraping (Gua Sha, SCR) as a multifunctional therapy for AGA. With the assistance of lipophilic OG and SCR, CuR can efficaciously penetrate the epidermal and dermal regions where most hair follicles (HFs) reside, thereby releasing curcumin (CR) and copper ions (Cu2+) subcutaneously to facilitate hair regeneration. Concomitantly, the mechanical stimulation induced by SCR promotes the formation of new blood vessels, which is conducive to reshaping the microenvironment of HFs. This study validates that the combination of CuRG and SCR is capable of systematically interfering with different pathological processes, ranging from improvement of perifollicular microenvironment (oxidative stress and insufficient vascularization), regulation of inflammatory responses to degradation of androgen receptor (AR), thus potentiating hair growth. Compared with minoxidil, a widely used clinical drug for AGA therapy, the designed synergistic system displays augmented hair regeneration in the AGA mouse model.This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved

Multifunctional Microneedle Patch Based on Metal-Phenolic Network with Photothermal Antimicrobial, ROS Scavenging, Immunomodulatory, and Angiogenesis for Programmed Treatment of Diabetic Wound Healing

“…To illustrate the cellular ROS scavenging ability of PH/TM MNs, the total amount of ROS after L929 cells incubated with MNs was assessed using DCFH-DA staining . As shown in Figure H, the fluorescence intensity of the H 2 O 2 -treated group was much higher than that of the control group, and the fluorescence intensity of the PH group was not significantly different from that of the H 2 O 2 group, suggesting that PH did not have a scavenging effect on ROS.…”