This study was conducted to evaluate the effect of
Schisandra nigra, a plant native to Jeju Island, South Korea, on the promotion of
hair growth. When rat
vibrissa follicles were treated with 85%
ethanol (
EtOH) extract of S. nigra, the hair-fiber lengths of the
vibrissa follicles increased significantly. In addition, after
topical application of the
EtOH extract of S. nigra onto the back of
C57BL/6 mice every other day,
anagen progression of the
hair shaft was induced. Moreover, the extract increased both the expression of
proliferating cell nuclear antigen (
PCNA) in the bulb matrix region and the proliferation of immortalized
vibrissa dermal papilla cells. In order to determine the mechanism by which S. nigra promotes
hair growth, we examined its relationship with the transforming growth factor-beta2 (
TGF-beta2) signal pathway, which is known to be a regulator of
catagen induction. When the
vibrissa follicles in the
anagen phase were treated with S. nigra extract for 7 days, the expression of
TGF-beta2 in the bulb matrix region was found to be lower than that of the control follicles that were expected to be in the anagen-catagen transition phase. These results suggest that S. nigra extract has the potential to promote
hair growth via down regulation of
TGF-beta2 and the proliferation of
dermal papilla.
