Hair plays a vital role in a person's appearance and self-image throughout life, and is perceived as a source of strength and sexuality. Consequently any pathological abnormality in hair growth can be psychologically distressing, whether abnormal hair loss such as androgenetic alopecia, or excessive hair growth such as hirsutism. The study aimed to investigate whether the gene expression of KATP channels subunits occurred in the anagen stage of the hair cycle of human scalp hair follicles. The limited understanding of hair follicle biology has meant that not all current treatments for these disorders are fully effective. Presently, minoxidil is the most commonly used non-hormonal treatment for hair loss. It belongs to a group of drugs known as ATP-sensitive potassium (KATP) channel openers. It is not explicitly known how minoxidil functions to stimulate hair growth. The general assumption is that it stimulates the follicular blood supply and/or KATP channels. Occipital scalp anagen hair follicles were microdissected individually from each skin sample. This followed by RNA extraction and cDNA synthesis. The gene expression was investigated using RT-PCR, real[1]time PCR and the products were confirmed by sequencing. The molecular biological investigation into KATP channel subunits revealed that SUR1, SUR2B, Kir6.1 and Kir6.2 are expressed in scalp hair follicles, while SUR2A was not expressed. These findings would aid more enhanced testing and better understanding of the mechanism of action of KATP channel openers and blockers for treatment of hair disorders. Therefore, this would increase our knowledge of hair biology and help the development of new improved therapies for hair pathologies.
