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Drugs Affecting Hair Growth

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Hair and Hair Diseases

Abstract

Several drugs are able to influence hair growth, resulting in hair loss (effluvium) or hypertrichosis. Clinical symptoms are the result of interactions between the drug and various cells important for hair growth, such as follicular keratinocytes, cells of the matrix, and those of connective tissue surrounding the bulb and perifollicular blood vessels. Especially the keratinocytes of the hair follicle are a major target for toxic effects by environmental agents or xenobiotics. One reason for this is that up to 90% of all hair follicles are in a phase of rapid growth, and the high blood flow rate around hair bulbs results in a good bioavailability of many compounds (Orfanos et al. 1976; Zaun 1986). Another reason may be that follicular keratinocytes are capable of much more enzymatic activity in metabolizing exogenous compounds than are other keratinocytes (Wattenberg and Leong 1970). This has been shown by the assessment of enzyme-dependent activities, by histochemical analysis and by immunofluorescent staining with monoclonal antibodies that react with cytochrome P-450 isoenzymes (Merk et al. 1984; Wattenberg and Leong 1970).

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Authors
  1. H. F. Merk
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Dermatology, University Medical Center Steglitz, The Free University of Berlin, Berlin, FR Germany

    Constantin E. Orfanos

  2. Department of Dermatology, University of Nijmegen, NL-6500 HB, Nijmegen, The Netherlands

    Rudolf Happle

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© 1990 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

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Merk, H.F. (1990). Drugs Affecting Hair Growth. In: Orfanos, C.E., Happle, R. (eds) Hair and Hair Diseases. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-74612-3_23

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-74612-3_23

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-642-74614-7

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-642-74612-3

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

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