Keeps getting better...hopefully you've received (and approved) my submission!...lol

Can I participate although I don't live in states?

Does the gingseng extract absorb systematically?
Asking because gingseng should nt be used internally for longer than approx. 1month or so.

Thank's!

So, will you let us know even if we're <sniff, sniff> rejected?

Lou

Sent in my application for this. Here's hoping this is THE NEXT BIG THING.

Hey guys,

To answer your questions--

The product will be either liposomal or nano-encapsulated, which will ensure that ingredients only hit where they're designated (the hair follicle). This will prevent systemic absorption for the most part.

On responses--

I think right now they're just acknowledging volunteers, but the evaluation hasn't yet begun. I'll likely play a role in that as well to help people with their regimes so that they can still be a volunteer.

But, one more thing JJA--

Yep, you can participate internationally.

Dan,

I am sure you have found this already but i was researching the ingredients and found this 'concentration' ---is that the concentration that is going to be used in Hairgen?

Results

Loquat leaf extract and corosolic acid induced the proliferation of DPCs and NHEK
Loquat leaf extract and corosolic acid increased the proliferation of cultured human DPCs (Fig. 2) and NHEK (Fig. 3). Four days’ treatment with various concentrations of loquat leaf extract increased the DPCs proliferation significantly (p<0.05); 112% and 122% at 2.5 µg/mL and 10 µg/mL, respectively. Three days’ treatment with various concentrations of loquat leaf extract also increased the NHEK proliferation significantly (p<0.05); 112% and 113% at 0.156 µg/mL and 0.625 µg/mL, respectively. Corosolic acid enhanced the significant proliferation of DPCs and NHEK at 1 µg/mL and 0.0625 µg/mL, respectively.

References

1 Fujie T., Katoh S., Oura M., Urano Y., and Arase S. The chemotactic effect of a dermal papilla cell-derived factor on outer root sheath cells. J Dermatol. Sci. 25: 206-212, 2001.

2 Seok-Seon Rho, Su-Jin Park, Seong-Lok Hwang, Min-Ho Lee, Chang Deok Kim, In-Ho Lee, Sun-Youn Chang, and Moon-Jeong Rang. The hair growth promoting effect of Asiasari radix extract and its molecular regulation. J Dermatol. Sci. 38: 89-97, 2005.

3 Seok-Seon Rho, Chang Deok Kim, Min-Ho Lee, Seong-Lok Hwang, Moon-Jeong Rang and Yeo-Kyeong Yoon. The hair growth promoting effect of Sophora flavescens extract and its molecular regulation. J Dermatol. Sci. 30: 43-49, 2002.

4 Kawano M., Komi-Kuramochi A., Asada M., Suzuki M., Oki J., Jiang J. and Imamura T. Comprehensive analysis of FGF and FGFR expression in skin: FGF18 is highly expressed in hair follicles and capable of inducing anagen from telogen stage hair follicles. J Invest. Dermatol. 124: 877-85, 2005.

Hey Ryan,

I derived the amount to be used through a few bodies of research, but I'll have Eric look at this one in particular. Thanks for bringing this up!

I believe Eric just made this trial completely fee free.

That's what the email I got said. Huzzah!

Are you guys going to measure individual hair or follicle diameter as one of your variables? I'd like my hair to be thicker. Mine used to be as thick and curly as my beard and pubes but it's getting noticeably thinner.

bob--

I'm not sure if it'd be very easy to do this since the trial isn't in a centralized location (such as at a local college). Do you have any recommendations as to how Eric and the gang can do this?

Sure, you get the participants to send in hair samples periodically pulled out so the roots are intact and measure them over time as the trial progresses. Obviously some microscopes would be involved. What am I missing?

Question- Any early word on how good this will be on the frontal hairline? That's my problem area more than anything, receding and thinning in the front. Since Toco-8 the small bald spot I had in the back has basically filled in, plus the rest of my hair has thickened up quite a bit.

Buff--

If you can, post that in the "Toco-8 Feedback" thread. Great news to hear about it filling in your bald spot!

The hairline is the toughest thing to fill in, so I'm truly hoping that the product will do wonders for the hairline. Laser helmeting has thickened up my hair substantially but I still need to restore my hairline/temples, and I'm banking on the PP topical to help me with that along with the lasering. Until we give it a fair 6-month trial though, the jury's gonna be out unfortunately.

I would suggest the Hairgen formulation to include an EGF receptor inhibitor such as milk thistle and also to include Apigenin:

Why EGFr inhibitor? Because it helps a lot with hair growth: abnormal hair growth has been frequently experienced by people with cancer treated with EGFr inhibitors. Milk thistle would be a good choice because it also inhibts Kinase, it is safe (with no known side effects),

Why Apigenin? Because it has been shown to help reverse hair loss:

SpringerLink - Journal Article

Apigenin is naturally occuring flavonoid (for instance in parsely) which is known to have antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and anti-tumor properties, stimulates hair growth through downregulation of the TGF-ß1 while increasing the proliferation of human dermal papilla cells and human epidermal keratinocytes cells and stimulating the elongation of hair follicles in vitro.

Personally i would stay away from milk thistle as it is a potential allergen for a lot of people. And, the controlled conditions present in the in vitro system differ significantly from those in vivo and may give misleading results therefore in vitro studies are usually followed by in vivo studies.

Side Effects and Safety Concerns:

Side effects may include indigestion, headache and itching. Rarely, milk thistle may result in heartburn, gas, diarrhea, joint pain and sexual dysfunction.

People with allergies to daisies, artichokes, kiwi, common thistle or plants in the aster family may also be allergic to milk thistle. There have been several reports of anaphylactic shock in people who have used milk thistle products.

The safety of milk thistle in pregnant or nursing women is unknown.

Theoretically, milk thistle may lower blood sugar levels, so it should be used with caution by people with diabetes, hypoglycemia and those taking medications or supplements that affect blood sugar levels.

Checked at my work (I work in a large multi-disciplinary research lab) and they have the necessary equipment for doing this (hell, they have some nanotechnology equipment which can measure much, much smaller distances than those of hair follicles), so I think I'm gonna at least measure my own follicle size weekly. I'll keep a log and send it in even though it will obviously only be anecdotal with an n of 1.

If you're allergic then it's obviously something to avoid. But I have taken a lot of milk thistle (up to 750 mg/day of silymarin) over the last 3 years for its hepatoprotective properties without incident. It has kept my liver enzymes nicely mid-range despite my love of Vitaberry-Resverataol-Vodka cocktails. I have never seen any effect on my blood sugar (I've got metabolic syndrome and measure my glucose levels 3-4 times/day) even though some studies suggest it. But (for me at least), it provides excellent liver support.

My only point is that it is a known allergen and if someone didn't know it was in there they could have a potential reaction and not know from what. I do know about it's 'reported' benefits to the liver.

Anyway, I wouldn't particularly stick to milk thistle (because of allergic issue) but my point is : is it worth including an EGFr inhibitor in the Hairgen formulation as it would help with hair growth (if so you can chose a safe product for this purpose)?

Hey Wassel,

Perhaps in the future. However, for now, it'd be in our best interest to test the current version and get a good idea of what sort of results people can expect. If it works out well for people, then we can experience with adding in various things in the future like an EGFR-inhibitor, growth factor peptides, and some other cutting-edge stuff. However, we don't want to overdo it by throwing everything in the sink at one time.

Very true --- just because something has the potential to lessen hair loss doesn't mean it necessarily has synergy with the other ingredients being tested --- the ingredients themselves have less importance than the synergy between them.