Effect of Topical Grape Sap on Apoptosis in Hair Follicle Among Male Rats

Background: Hair loss is an emotional and stressful condition with an unpredictable profound impact on the social interactions of patients. Objectives: This study aimed to evaluate the effect of grape sap on apoptosis in hair follicles. Methods: This experimental study was performed on 126 male Wistar rats within a weight range of 30 ± 250 g. The rats were assigned into seven groups, namely bleomycin group, normal saline group, grape sap group (1 mg/kg), grape sap group (10 mg/kg), grape sap group (100 mg/kg), minoxidil group, and minoxidil plus grape sap group (100 mg/kg). The rats received bleomycin (1.7 mL/kg, four times with the interval of 5 days) and then were treated with grape sap for 21 days. The skin samples were taken from rats on days 7, 14, and 21 (i.e., the last day of the treatment). Results: The results showed a significant increase in the groups treated with grape sap, compared to the bleomycin-treated group in terms of the number of follicles, sebaceous glands, and blood vessels at the base of every follicle, hair growth length, total antioxidant capacity, and BCL2 gene expression. The use of grape sap showed beneficial effects on the reduction of hair fall. Conclusions: According to the results, it seems that grape sap can be employed as a non-chemical drug due to its rich compounds, especially antioxidants, and decreases apoptosis in hair follicle cells through increasing the expression ratio of BCL2/BAX, thereby stimulating hair growth.