Role of proteoglycans in the treatment of alopecia of various genesis

Abstract

Hair loss has always been and remains an urgent challenge in the world today. Although this condition is not life-threatening, it still has a strong impact on the patients’ quality of life. Hairlines are affected by multiple factors including age, family history, smoking, nutrition, etc. Alopecia can take many forms, and the specialist’s objective is to determine the correct cause of the disorder of hair growth cycle by taking a medical history from a patient.The key role in the pathogenesis of androgenetic alopecia is assigned to changes in hormonal status. Telogen effluvium can be triggered by stress, medication, pregnancy, or other medical conditions. For instance, the high number of patients who have had COVID-19 are now faced with hair loss a few months after recovery.Despite the variety of underlining causes of hair loss, the principle of therapy is the same – the elimination of the trigger and the selection of drugs to normalize the natural hair growth cycle. In this case, the use of drugs containing proteoglycans that are specific proteins involved in the regulation of the hair growth cycle looks promising. Numerous studies demonstrate the efficacy of such proteoglycans as versican, decorin, and syndecan. They activate hair growth and help prolong the anagen phase. This effect of proteoglycans affords to speak about their good therapeutic and even prophylactic properties applied to the problem of hair loss.