Monday, April 01, 2024

Hair-loss treatment found in cinnamon

Good news! What do you sprinkle on your coffee?

"A component of the aromatic spice cinnamon caused hair follicles to sprout in the lab, with researchers now set on developing a novel treatment to reverse hair loss through the use of natural compounds. ...
They’d previously found that the so-called ‘love hormone’ oxytocin promoted hair growth by upregulating genes in the dermal papilla cells that are pivotal in hair formation, growth, and cycling. However, an issue with administering oxytocin through the skin so that it activates this hair-growth pathway is that it’s a relatively large molecule, so absorption is prevented. ...
Enter cinnamon or, more precisely, cinnamic acid from Chinese cinnamon (Cinnamomum cassia). Cinnamon is already known to possess wide-ranging health benefits, including skin-anti-aging effects and was recently discovered to enhance skin elasticity through its effect on oxytocin receptors. Cinnamic acid, which is widely used in cosmetics, is a fraction of the molecular weight of oxytocin.

The researchers evaluated the effects of cinnamic acid on the expression of oxytocin and hair growth-related genes. Dermal papilla cells were cultured with different acid cinnamic concentrations, ranging from 0 to 2,000 µg/mL. Concentrations of 1,000 and 2,000 µg/mL were observed to cause cell damage and, above 500 µg/mL, considerably inhibited cell proliferation. However, at concentrations below 500 µg/mL, there was an observable dose-dependent increase in the expression of oxytocin and genes associated with hair growth. ..."

From the abstract:
"Considerable global demand exists for the development of novel drugs for the treatment of alopecia. A recent report demonstrated that oxytocin promotes hair growth activity in human dermal papilla (DP) cells; however, its application in drugs or cosmetic products is challenging because rapid degradation and relatively large molecular weight prevent long-term topical administration on the scalp. Here, we examined cinnamic acid, a small molecule activator for oxytocin receptor (OXTR) expression. Treatment with cinnamic acid led to upregulation of OXTR and trichogenic gene expression in human DP cells. Furthermore, inhibition of OXTR with an antagonist, L-371,257, suppressed hair growth-related gene expression in DP cells. These findings suggest that cinnamic acid enhances the hair growth ability of DP cells via oxytocin signaling. Additionally, we tested the hair growth-promoting effects of cinnamic acid using hair follicle organoids in vitro and observed that cinnamic acid significantly promoted the growth of hair peg-like sprouting. These promising results may be useful for developing hair growth-promoting products targeting oxytocin."

Hair-loss treatment found in cinnamon



Fig. 1 Schematic representation of experimental procedure.


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