Supplementation with nutraceuticals has been shown to be beneficial for hair growth, and quality, especially in the context of female or male pattern hair loss or androgenetic alopecia (Ablon, Dermatol Clin 2021). However, a formal proof of nutrient or other essential metabolite deficiency in affected hair follicles from patients suffering from hair loss disorders has not been formally demonstrated.
The team of Monasterium Laboratory GmbH has adapted the human hair follicle pre-clinical tool (Edelkamp et al., Methods Mol Biol 2020; Langan et al., Exp Dermatol 2015) to allow the quantitative assessment of nutritional metabolites in human hair follicles and the effects on metabolic process such as autophagy (Parodi et al., PLOS Biol 2018; Ramot et al., Arch Dermatol Res 2015).
At Monasterium Laboratory GmbH, we can now link nutraceutical efficacy testing with absorbance of selected nutraceutical ingredients by human hair follicle ex vivo, as well as assessing the secretion of key metabolites into the culture medium that can indicate improved hair follicle metabolism. Thus, these new assays enable substantiation of claims for nutraceuticals for healthy hair (Sinclair, J Investig Dermatol Sympo Proc 2007), and to provide scientific reasoning for nutraceutical supplementation for hair loss disorders.
