Background: Aging is defined as an inevitable decline of tissue’s ability to regenerate in the process of becoming older. One of the skin appendages that can be affected by lower estrogen levels is hair follicle that will undergo miniaturization. Hair miniaturization is an inhibition of hair growth along with a decrease in follicle diameter. Treatment with selective estrogen receptor modulators (SERMs) is shown to be effective and low at risk.
Methods: This study is a post-test control only. Twenty-eight menopausal Wistar rats were divided into 4 groups. Group K and P are control and treatment groups respectively, and are further divided into 7 or 14 days of duration. All rats were shaved on their backs on the first day. Control groups were not given any treatment, while treatment groups were treated by 10 mg of 2% topical SERMs tamoxifen once a day. Samples were taken after 7 days for K7 and P7, and after 14 days for K14 and P14. The rate of hair growth is obtained by dividing the difference in hair length with the duration between of hair samples taken, which is 7 days. The hair follicle diameter and count is measured microscopically.
Results: The mean hair growth for control group is 0.130 mm/day, and 0.157 mm/day for treatment groups. The data analyzed using independent samples t-test shows p value of 0.000 (p < 0.05) between control and treatment groups, thus are significantly different. The data obtained on hair follicle diameter and hair follicle count were analyzed using one way analysis of variance (ANOVA), and the result shows p value of 0.000 and 0.054 (p < 0.05) respectively. There is a significant difference between groups for hair follicle diameter, but no significant difference between groups for hair follicle count.
Conclusion: SERMs tamoxifen improve hair miniaturization, but have no effect on hair follicle count on menopausal Wistar rats. |