Ephrin-A3 increases hair density/accelerates anagen

bornthisway

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Ephrin-A3 not only increases the density of hair follicles but also accelerates anagen development in neonatal mice

Yamada Y, Midorikawa T, Oura H, Yoshino T, Ohdera M, Kubo Y, Arase S.
Biological Science Research Center, Lion Corporation, Kanagawa 256-0811, Japan; Department of Dermatology, Institute of Health Biosciences, The University of Tokushima Graduate School, Tokushima 770-8503, Japan.

Ephrins are cell-membrane-bound ligands for Eph receptor tyrosine kinases (Eph). Although ephrins are known to regulate a variety of developmental processes, little is known of their role in hair development. Previously, we studied the gene expression of dermal papilla cells from androgenetic alopecia and found that ephrin-A3 was significantly down-regulated. OBJECTIVE: To characterize the expression of ephrin-A3 in the hair cycle and evaluate the effect of ephrin-A3 on hair growth. METHODS: We investigated gene expression and protein expression of each ephrin-As and EphAs in the skin of neonatal mice through the first and second hair cycle using quantitative PCR and immunohistochemical analysis, respectively. We also injected ephrin-A3 protein into the skin of neonatal mice and demonstrated the effect of ephrin-A3 on hair follicle development. RESULTS: Expression of ephrin-A3 revealed a rapid increase at the beginning of the anagen phase, a peak during the mid-anagen, and a rapid fading during the telogen phase. In addition, we found ephrin-A3 protein was expressed in the developing hair follicles with a characteristic spatiotemporal localization. Furthermore, injection of ephrin-A3 into the skin of neonatal mice markedly accelerated the differentiation process of hair follicles. In addition, injection of ephrin-A3 unexpectedly increased the number of hair follicles. CONCLUSION: These findings demonstrated that ephrin-A3 not only accelerates anagen development but also increases the density of hair follicles, and also suggested that an ephrin-A-EphA signal pathway is closely involved in hair follicle development.

PMID: 18640011
 

el_duterino

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Good post. I did some more search since I live in Japan.
This research on Ephrin was done in 2003 at the University in Japan and presented in an international conferance in 2004 in Kobe, Japan.

Based on that, a big Japanese pharmaceutical firm called LION made a hair-growth promoter under the name of Mouhatsuryoku ZZ. This topical has Ephrin and also BMP listed as ingredients.

http://mouhaturyoku.lion.co.jp/mechanism/

I did some search on this topical, scoping the local hairloss boards. Those were saying that it did grow hair in mouse but the effects on humans were much less impressive - basically it seems that no one was able to clearly say that they got massive results or regrowth. MAybe it is too early to judge.
The price is about 40 USD for a 200ml bottle.
Topical was put on the market in 2007.
So this is not the "CURE" but certainly worth a try, in addtion to the other drugs targeting DHT.
 
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