A single‐center clinical trial evaluating topical propranolol for preventing stress‐induced hair loss
There is currently a lack of pathological research on the hair loss caused by stress, and there is no effective treatment available. It has been previously reported that stress can cause sympathetic nerve activation and release of norepinephrine, which binds to beta-2 adrenergic receptors and causes a series of chemical reactions. Propranolol, as a beta-2 adrenergic receptors blocker, competitively antagonizes the effects of norepinephrine. We initiated a single-center clinical trial with a self-controlled approach to assess the effectiveness of topical applied hydrochloride salt of propranolol solution in preventing stress-induced hair loss in humans. A total of 20 volunteers were enrolled. 14 out of 20 volunteers experienced a significant reduction in the number of hair loss (p < .05) after using hydrochloride salt of propranolol solution. No local adverse reactions were found. This study showed hydrochloride salt of propranolol solution may alleviate stress-induced alopecia to a certain extent, which provides clues for the development of pharmaceutical interventions for the treatment of stress-induced alopecia.
Authors
- Meidi Zhu
- Ruishuang Sun (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5846-2994)
- Xuejuan Xu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1379-480X)
- Y S Zhang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4247-3722)
- Zhongjie Liu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1720-5339)
- Xinxin Li (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0002-1232-7337)
- Gaofeng Wang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5028-9717)
- Xusheng Wang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0997-8705)
- Ruiyun Tian (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8805-6070)
- Binkai Zheng (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0006-1699-5569)
Institutions
- Sun Yat-sen University (CN)
- Southern University of Science and Technology (CN)
- Shantou University (CN)
- First Affiliated Hospital of Jiamusi University (CN)
- Nanfang Hospital (CN)
- First People's Hospital of Foshan (CN)
- Shantou University Medical College (CN)
- Shenzhen Children's Hospital (CN)
- Guangdong Provincial People's Hospital (CN)
- Shanghai Cell Therapy Research Institute (CN)
- Southern Medical University (CN)
Publication Details
- Journal
- The FASEB Journal
- Published
- 2024-11-21
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1096/fj.202401027r
- Citations
- 1
- Primary Topic
- Hair Growth and Disorders
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.54
Funders
- National Natural Science Foundation of China
- China Postdoctoral Science Foundation
- Science, Technology and Innovation Commission of Shenzhen Municipality
- Basic and Applied Basic Research Foundation of Guangdong Province