Comparative Efficacy of Transdermal Forms for Alopecia Therapy

Abstract

Introduction. Alopecia is a polyetiological disorder characterized by hair loss and reducing their number per unit area. Baldness causes psychological and social discomfort to patients, in connection with what an important task is to develop formulations that are more effective than the reference agents. Aim. Investigate the possibility of applying the original substance Y in several dosage forms for the treatment of alopecia in comparison with reference drugs: minoxidil and burdock oil. Materials and methods. The research subject was the original substance Y, for which several dosage forms were made: gel, alcohol and oil compositions. The study on the effectiveness and safety of the developed formulations was carried out on 9 groups of male C57BL/6 mice. Depilation with further assessment of the percentage of hair follicles in the growth and resting phases was tested as a pre-clinical model of alopecia. In the study of the mechanism of action of substance Y, chemiluminescent assay was performed compared with natural antioxidant quercetin in the system luminol – 2,2'-azo-bis(2-amidinopropane)dihydrochloride, in potassium-phosphate buffer medium (pH = 7.4). Statistical processing of the results was carried out using two-way ANOVA using GraphPad Prism 8.0.2, USA software at the level of statistical significance of differences p < 0.05 and p < 0.005. Results and discussion. Based on the results of histological analysis and visual changes, it was found that the effectiveness of the topical forms of substance Y decreases in the following order: gel, alcohol form, oil composition. The use of a combination of the gel base with the test substance Y resulted to the appearance of a larger number of hair follicles in the growth phase than when using the reference preparation – 2 % minoxidil solution (the differences are statistically significant). Chemiluminescent assessment of antioxidant activity showed the lack of antioxidant effect in substance Y. Conclusion. The study combines two pharmaceutical profiles: technological and pharmacological. In the course of the experiments, the prospects of the gel form of the original substance Y for topical therapy of alopecia were shown. In the near future, it is planned to study the mechanism of action of substance Y, as well as registration of patent protection for a new drug.