New study, 5-ALA and iron ion stimulate hair growth

[moxsom]

Sorry I can't post the full article for you, but feel free to read the abstract below. Some interesting points.

Mice treated with an admixture of 5-ALA and iron ion showed significant hair growth (P < 0.05) at day 15 relative to those treated with iron ion alone...The stimulatory effect of the mixture was almost identical to that of 5% minoxidil

The results suggest that an admixture of 5-ALA and iron ion stimulates murine hair growth in vivo independent of epithelial and mesenchymal cells, although the precise mechanism is still uncertain. This mixture has the potential to become a beneficial new treatment for alopecia.

http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/journal/121536851/abstract?CRETRY=1&SRETRY=0

Doesn't sound super promising, as it was only done on mice. I wonder if using it in conjunction with minoxidil would help. It's a fairly new study and I hope it gets more research in the near future.