Ginseng sponin

This study was conducted to confirm the possibility of using minor ginseng saponin F2 by oral administration on hair anagen induction effects. The signaling pathway and anagen induction effect of ginsenoside F2 were investigated and compared with finasteride on the effect of hair growth induction. The cell-based MTT assay results indicated that the proliferation rates of HHDPC and HaCaT treated with F2 significantly increased by 30% compared with the finasteride-treated group. A western blot study showed that the expression of β-catenin Lef-1 and DKK-1 increased by 140, 200% and decreased by 40% in the F2-treated group, respectively compared to that of finasteride-treated group. C57BL/6 mice were subjected to the same treatments. The hair growth promotion rates were compared with groups treated with finasteride, which was 20% higher in the F2-treated group. Tissue histological analysis results showed the number of hair follicles, thickness of the epidermis, and follicles of the anagen phase which increased in the F2-treated group, compared with the finasteride-treated groups. Moreover, the effect of F2 on hair growth was confirmed through the immunofluorescence (IF) methods indicating the expression aspect of Wnt signal pathway-related factors in the tissue of C57BL/6 mouse. Our results considered the expression increase in β-catenin, Lef-1 which was suggested as a major factor related to the development and growth of hair follicle and the decrease in DKK-1 when entering catagen by F2. As the data showed, F2 might be a potential new therapeutic source for anagen induction and hair growth through the Wnt signal pathway.


This study looks pretty promising. Does anyone know how ginseng is metabolized in the body so that F2 would become active. Could consuming a large amount of red ginseng does the same effects found in the study above?

Heres how they made the F2 in the study
Ginsenoside Rb1 was converted to F2 by incubation with Aspergillus niger that was cultured in tryptic soy broth supplemented with Rb1 for 7 days at 37 °C with agitation. The progress of conversion was monitored by TLC once a day. After a satisfactory extent of conversion was obtained, the medium was extracted with buthanol. The supernatant was fractionated and concentrated with a vacuum rotary evaporator. F2 was further purified via silica gel column chromatography with an optimized stepwise gradient of CHCl3–MeOH. The isolated F2 was characterized by mass spectroscopy and shown to be greater than 96% pure.