Abstract
Aging induced hair loss is known as two types of baldness, one is alopecia senilis and the other is alopecia androgenetica(AA). The former is caused with hair follicle disappearance by aging. The latter is caused with a hair follicle miniaturization by shortening of anagen phase induced by androgen, and shows characteristic baldness pattern as secondary sexual characters. Anti-aging methods for AA which has a cosmetically and psychologically more strong influence are considered mainly with an autologous hair transplantation and a drug therapy. The main drugs for it are minoxidil and finasteride Hair growing effect of minoxidil is thought to be concerned with its ATP sensitive K+channel activation. In the case of finasteride is it the inhibiting effect on type II 5α-reductase. The hair growing effects of these two drugs are confirmed in clinical trials.
In this review, the pharmacological effects of minoxidil are introduced in detail.
