The medicinal activity of lyophilized aqueous seed extract of Lepidium sativum L. in an androgenic alopecia model

Abstract

This study evaluated the topical efect of Lepidium sativum lyophilized seed extract (LSLE) towards Sustanon-induced alopecia in male adult Wistar albino rats in vivo, compared to minoxidil topical reference standard drug (MRD). LC–MS/MS together with molecular networking was used to profle the metabolites of LSLE. LSLE treated group revealed signifcant changes in alopecia related biomarkers, perturbation of androgenic markers; decline in testosterone level and elevation in 5α-reductase (5-AR); decline in the cholesterol level. On the other hand, LSLE treated group showed improvement in vascular markers; CTGF, FGF and VEGF. Groups treated topically with minoxidil and LSLE showed signifcant improvement in hair length. LC–MS/MS profle of LSLE tentatively identifed 17 constituents: mainly glucosinolates, favonoid glycosides, alkaloids and phenolic acids. The results point to the potential role of LSLE in the treatment of alopecia through decreasing 5(alpha)- dihydrotestosterone levels. Molecular docking was attempted to evaluate the probable binding mode of identifed compounds to androgen receptor (PDB code: 4K7A).