I should have posted this study in this topic area in the first place. The research study is an in-vitro study done at the Kyungpook National University Hospital in Korea
Preventable effect of L-threonate, an ascorbate metabolite, on androgen-driven balding via repression of dihydrotestosterone- induced dickkopf-1 expression in human hair dermal papilla cells
http://74.125.155.132/scholar?q=cache:t ... s_yhi=2011
Preventable effect of L-threonate, an ascorbate metabolite, on androgen-driven balding via repression of dihydrotestosterone- induced dickkopf-1 expression in human hair dermal papilla cells
http://74.125.155.132/scholar?q=cache:t ... s_yhi=2011
In a previous study, we recently claimed that dihydrotestoster-
one (DHT)-inducible dickkopf-1 (DKK-1) expression is one of
the key factors involved in androgen-potentiated balding. We
also demonstrated that L-ascorbic acid 2-phosphate (Asc 2-P)
represses DHT-induced DKK-1 expression in cultured dermal
papilla cells (DPCs). Here, we investigated whether or not
L-threonate could attenuate DHT-induced DKK-1 expression.
We observed via RT-PCR analysis and enzyme-linked im-
munosorbent assay that DHT-induced DKK-1 expression was
attenuated in the presence of L-threonate. We also found that
DHT-induced activation of DKK-1 promoter activity was sig-
nificantly repressed by L-threonate. Moreover, a co-culture sys-
tem featuring outer root sheath (ORS) keratinocytes and DPCs
showed that DHT inhibited the growth of ORS cells, which
was then significantly reversed by L-threonate. Collectively,
these results indicate that L-threonate inhibited DKK-1 ex-
pression in DPCs and therefore is a good treatment for the pre-
vention of androgen-driven balding. [BMB reports 2010; 43
(10): 688-692]