Tropical Journal of Pharmaceutical Research

Original Research Article | OPEN ACCESS

Data mining on varieties, therapeutic uses and medicinal characteristics of Traditional Chinese Medicine preparations for treating hair loss

Xiaoli Li¹, You Zhou¹, Min Xu¹, Ke Fu¹, Zhang Wang² , Ming Sun¹, Mengdie Cao¹

¹College of Pharmacy; ²College of Ethnomedicine, Chengdu University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Chengdu 611137, China.

For correspondence:- Zhang Wang Email: wangzhangcqcd@cdutcm.edu.cn Tel:+862861656141

Accepted: 17 October 2020 Published: 30 November 2020

Citation: Li X, Zhou Y, Xu M, Fu K, Wang Z, Sun M, et al. Data mining on varieties, therapeutic uses and medicinal characteristics of Traditional Chinese Medicine preparations for treating hair loss. Trop J Pharm Res 2020; 19(11):2461-2475 doi: 10.4314/tjpr.v19i11.30

© 2020 The authors.
This is an Open Access article that uses a funding model which does not charge readers or their institutions for access and distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0) and the Budapest Open Access Initiative (http://www.budapestopenaccessinitiative.org/read), which permit unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly credited..

Abstract

Purpose: To review the varieties, therapeutic uses, and medicinal characteristics of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) preparations for treating hair loss, and to provide a reference for research and development of new drugs.

Methods: For this review, literature from the last 50 years pertaining to the treatment of hair loss via TCM were collected mainly from China National Knowledge Infrastructure database and Wanfang Data Resource System database. Information on Chinese traditional patent medicines and ethnomedicines for treating hair loss was drawn from books.

Results: A total of 322 preparations were identified, including 135 preparations made by medical institutions, 108 Chinese traditional patent medicines, 60 preparations produced by doctors themselves, and 19 ethnomedicines. The forms of dosage included decoctions, pills, capsules, tablets, granules, tinctures, liniments, and powders. These preparations are traditionally used in the treatment of skin and subcutaneous tissue diseases. A total of 400 medicinal materials were used in preparations, including 339 from plants, 40 from animals, 14 from minerals. The most commonly used Chinese medicinal materials in order of frequency were Rehmannia glutinosa (Gaertn.) DC., Fallopia multiflora (Thunb.) Haraldson, Angelica sinensis (Oliv.) Diels, Ligustrum lucidum W.T. Aiton and Ligusticum chuanxiong Hort.

Conclusion: TCM preparations for treating hair loss are abundant in variety. They are mainly decoctions, and primarily botanical medicinal materials. Most of the preparations are composed of Chinese medicinal materials for ‘toning the kidneys’ and ‘nourishing the liver’. They are used mainly in the treatment of seborrheic alopecia and alopecia areata.

Keywords: Hair loss, Traditional Chinese medicine, TCM, Preparation, Variety characteristics, Medicinal, Data mining