Preclinical and Clinical Studies Demonstrate That the Proprietary Herbal Extract DA-5512 Effectively Stimulates Hair Growth and Promotes Hair Health

Abstract

The proprietary DA-5512 formulation comprises six herbal extracts from traditional oriental plants historically associated with therapeutic and other applications related to hair. Here, we investigated the effects of DA-5512 on the proliferation of human dermal papilla cells (hDPCs) in vitro and on hair growth in C57BL/6 mice and conducted a clinical study to evaluate the efficacy and safety of DA-5512. DA-5512 significantly enhanced the viability of hDPCs in a dose-dependent manner (p<0.05), and 100 ppm of DA-5512 and 1 μM minoxidil (MXD) significantly increased the number of Ki-67-positive cells, compared with the control group (p<0.05). MXD (3%) and DA-5512 (1%, 5%) significantly stimulated hair growth and increased the number and length of hair follicles (HFs) versus the controls (each p<0.05). The groups treated with DA-5512 exhibited hair growth comparable to that induced by MXD. In clinical study, we detected a statistically significant increase in the efficacy of DA-5512 after 16 weeks compared with the groups treated with placebo or 3% MXD (p<0.05). In conclusion, DA-5512 might promote hair growth and enhance hair health and can therefore be considered an effective option for treating hair loss.