type 1 reductase

[brian liles]

hey guys, I have a question.

has it been proven that alpha 5 reducatse 1 is not involved in the hairloss process? or is it just strictly type 2? I mean merck had the mk 386 and if it played a role they would of done something as well. Avodart should be approved, this sucks lol. avodart has been shown to be better, and block the entire dht almost. the only downside to 0.5 mg avodart is that it raises scalp testosterone by 104% LOL. that is a lot.

 

[abcdefg]

An inexact answer is 5-ar type 2 is responsible for the conversion to DHT that is mainly near the follicle and found to be the main cause of male pattern baldness. The type 1 enzyme is not as important but could have some role still probably just minor if any.
Personally I think guys using dutasteride are crazy because we have no idea what that type 1 enzyme does and its found in the skin, brain, and other important places I would not want to remove it long term. When you get wrinkles at 30 or some other weird thing happens you wont be able to ever pin it down to removing that enzyme.

 

[Bryan]

An inexact answer is 5-ar type 2 is responsible for the conversion to DHT that is mainly near the follicle and found to be the main cause of male pattern baldness. The type 1 enzyme is not as important but could have some role still probably just minor if any.

I agree TOTALLY with everything you said above! The famous test of giving MK386 (Merck's specific type 1 inhibitor drug) to stumptailed macaques showed that their hair weights afterwards were similar to placebo, but that doesn't mean that they were EXACTLY the same. Inhibiting type 1 may help hair growth a little in some circumstances, but it's the type 2 enzyme which is certainly more important.

Personally I think guys using dutasteride are crazy because we have no idea what that type 1 enzyme does and its found in the skin, brain, and other important places I would not want to remove it long term. When you get wrinkles at 30 or some other weird thing happens you wont be able to ever pin it down to removing that enzyme.

One good thing about dutasteride is that it doesn't inhibit the type 1 enzyme nearly as STRONGLY as it does the type 2 enzyme. It inhibits type 2 around 98% to 99% at the standard dose, but type 1 only about HALF or so. I think that's a built-in "safety factor", since we don't know all the things that the type 1 enzyme really does.