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Case Study: Lygodium japonicum induces hair growth by inhibiting the testosterone to DHT conversion

Lygodium japonicum, a.k.a.the Japanese climbing fern, is a vine-like fern that usually climbs and interlace around other plants. It disseminates quickly by scattering spores on the wind. These spores are as well distributed as health products and supplements , with claimed health benefits, ranging from improving urinary and kidney functions to alleviating cold symptoms and acting as a all-purpose blood tonic. According to Matsuda et al., spores of the Lygodium japonicum might as well assist with hair growth.

To make the experiment, the authors employed 250 ml of 50% ethanol and 50 grams of spores in order to create an extract. They then analysed how substantially it inhibited the testosterone – dihydrotestostorone (DHT) conversion in vitro and whether it behaved as an anti-androgen in vivo. For the subsequent experimentation, hamsters and mice were employed.

All the animals had a part of their hair shaven and were treated with testosterone or with DHT. Topical Lygodii Spora extract was then utilised on the animals in the treated group, while only ethanol was utilized on the control groups. The hamsters also had a positive control group which was treated with oxendolone, an acknowledged anti-androgen.

Effectiveness in vitro

According to the writers, the spore extract “demonstrated noteworthy activeness” in inhibiting 5-alpha-reductase, the action that converts testosterone into DHT, in vitro. They attempted different fractions of the extract to determine which demonstrated the most inhibition. The most efficient was discovered to be the ethanol-hexane solution, which inhibited by 82.7% the conversion from testosterone into DHT.

Effectiveness on hamster flank organs

On hamsters, the effectiveness was appraised by the development of flank organs, which are frequently used to analyze anti-androgenic attributes of diverse substances. Because hamster flank organ increase is stimulated by testosterone and DHT, lower growth signifies higher effectiveness.

On hamsters cared for with testosterone, the strongest Lygodii Spora extract demonstrated the strongest inhibition of growth, 37.6%. Next was the oxendolone with a 29.7% inhibition. Weaker Lygodii Spora extracts were more ineffective. When treated with DHT, oxendolone showed a 21.5% growth inhibition . Lygodii Spora extracts, from strongest to weakest, inhibited 15%, 11.3% and 7.8%, respectively.

Since the spore extract was quite effective in inhibiting flank organ growth induced by testosterone but only passably effective in inhibiting growth caused by DHT, it appears that the strongest factor the extract has holding it is that it strongly inhibits 5-alpha-reductase.

Effectiveness on mouse skin

Shaved mice which were treated with topical testosterone demonstrated, unsurprisingly, a denounced inhibition of hair regrowth. Nevertheless, when a 2% topical Lygodii Spora extract was employed after the testosterone treatment, they grew more hair. In fact, hair growth in these mice was only somewhat worse than in the mice that experienced no topical testosterone.

The authors reason that the ethanol extract of Lygodii Spora demonstrated an important anti-androgenic action. They propose that the effect is induced by the fatty acids on the extract, namely linoleic, oleic and palmitic acids, which were shown to inhibit the 5-alpha-reductase in a different experiment of the study. Palmitic acid was about 3 times as effective as linoleic and oleic acid.

Conclusion: The Lygodii Spora extract, an ethanol solution produced from the spores of the Lygodium japonicum fern, appears to be an effective topical treatment for hair loss brougth by DHT action. The anti-androgenic effects may be due to the fatty acids present on the extract: linoleic acid, oleic acid and palmitic acid.

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