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A special patch reliably gets rid of baldness
Last reviewed: 02.07.2025
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Currently, the pharmaceutical industry offers a whole list of medications aimed at eliminating baldness. However, the overwhelming majority of these drugs do not affect the immediate causes of alopecia: oxidative stress and impaired local blood circulation. Scientists decided to correct this error and came up with a special dissolving microneedle patch that contains cerium nanoparticles that affect the causal factors of baldness. Using this technique, specialists were able to restore the rodent's hair faster than with other known treatment methods.
It is necessary to take into account that most often patients with androgenic alopecia have a deficiency of the vascular network that supplies the hair follicles with nutrients and cytokines. In addition, the active oxygen forms accumulating in the scalp can cause early cellular death of those structures that are responsible for the formation and growth of new hair.
A little earlier, specialists managed to determine that cerium nanoparticles have the ability to imitate enzymes that eliminate excess accumulation of active oxygen species. This reduces the degree of oxidative stress in liver damage, wound injuries and senile dementia. But such nanoparticles are not able to overcome the outer layer of the skin. Therefore, scientists set themselves the goal of inventing a minimally invasive method for transporting cerium nanoparticles deep into the root hair structures, which could help restore hair growth.
The researchers' first step was to coat the nanoparticles with a biodegradable polyethyleneglycol lipid substance. Then, the specialists developed a soluble microneedle patch consisting of a mixture of hyaluronic acid and cerium nanoparticles. The resulting patch was tested on rodents with bald spots. The results of the experiment showed that the newly developed patch demonstrated relatively quick positive results, and new blood vessels developed near the hair follicles. In addition, a decrease in the amount of oxidative stress substances was noted.
Of course, the research did not end there: further studies are planned on the possibility, effectiveness and safety of using such soluble patches on humans. Scientists are optimistic and are already stating that the new product has every chance of completely defeating baldness in humans in the future.
The study was conducted by a team of Chinese researchers from Zhejiang University in Hangzhou. The full article is available on the page