Phloroglucinol Enhances Anagen Signaling and Alleviates H2O2-Induced Oxidative Stress in Human Dermal Papilla Cells

J Microbiol Biotechnol. 2024 Apr 28;34(4):812-827. doi: 10.4014/jmb.2311.11047. Epub 2024 Mar 8.
Phloroglucinol Enhances Anagen Signaling and Alleviates H2O2-Induced Oxidative Stress in Human Dermal Papilla Cells

Seokmuk Park 1, Ye Jin Lim 1, Hee Su Kim 1, Hee-Jae Shin 1, Ji-Seon Kim 1, Jae Nam Lee 2, Jae Ho Lee 1, Seunghee
Phloroglucinol (PG) is one of the abundant isomeric benzenetriols in brown algae. Due to its polyphenolic structure, PG exhibits various biological activities. However, the impact of PG on anagen signaling and oxidative stress in human dermal papilla cells (HDPCs) is unknown. In this study, we investigated the therapeutic potential of PG for improving hair loss. A non-cytotoxic concentration of PG increased anagen-inductive genes and transcriptional activities of β-Catenin. Since several anagen-inductive genes are regulated by β-Catenin, further experiments were performed to elucidate the molecular mechanism by which PG upregulates anagen signaling. Various biochemical analyses revealed that PG upregulated β-Catenin signaling without affecting the expression of Wnt. In particular, PG elevated the phosphorylation of protein kinase B (AKT), leading to an increase in the inhibitory phosphorylation of glycogen synthase kinase 3 beta (GSK3β) at serine 9. Treatment with the selective phosphoinositide 3-kinase/AKT inhibitor, LY294002, restored the increased AKT/GSK3β/β-Catenin signaling and anagen-inductive proteins induced by PG. Moreover, conditioned medium from PG-treated HDPCs promoted the proliferation and migration of human epidermal keratinocytes via the AKT signaling pathway. Subsequently, we assessed the antioxidant activities of PG. PG ameliorated the elevated oxidative stress markers and improved the decreased anagen signaling in hydrogen peroxide (H2O2)-induced HDPCs. The senescence-associated β-galactosidase staining assay also demonstrated that the antioxidant abilities of PG effectively mitigated H2O2-induced senescence. Overall, these results indicate that PG potentially enhances anagen signaling and improves oxidative stress-induced cellular damage in HDPCs. Therefore, PG can be employed as a novel therapeutic component to ameliorate hair loss symptoms.

Keywords: Human dermal papilla cells (HDPCs); Phloroglucinol; hair growth; hair loss; oxidative stress; protein kinase B (AKT).

Long form: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11091678/

Of note, Ecklonia cava (ECE), a type of brown seaweed, does contain phloroglucinol. In the polyphenolic (phlorotannin) fraction of Ecklonia cava, which constitutes up to 18.3% of its dry weight, phloroglucinol is present as the simplest phlorotannin structure.

I wonder if its possible to duplicate the same concentrations as these lab experiments