Figure 1.
Morphological findings on the back of mice (A).
Histological findings by hematoxylin and eosin (H&E) staining of dorsal skin sections (B). The magnification is ×100, ×200 and ×400. After treatment with Astragaloside IV, new hair shaft (arrows) and hair follicles containing hair fibers (arrowheads) appeared.
Figure 2.
Expression of TUNEL-positive cells (A).
Activation of caspase-8 (B), pro-caspase-9, p53, Bax, Bcl-2 and Bcl-xL (C). The magnification is ×200. Arrows point to TUNEL-positive cells. Results are presented as mean ±S.D. # and ## indicates the mean differs significantly between normal group and depilated group (p<0.05 and p<0.01, respectively). * indicates that the mean differs significantly between Astragaloside IV-treated group and depilated group (p<0.05).
Figure 3.
Expression of caspase-3-positive cells by immunohistochemistry (A) and activation of caspase-3 by western blot (B).
The magnification is ×200. Arrows point to caspase-3-positive cells. Results are presented as mean ±S.D. ## indicates the mean differs significantly between normal group and depilated group (p<0.01). * indicates that the mean differs significantly between Astragaloside IV-treated group and depilated group (p<0.05).
Figure 4.
Activation of NF-κB and IκB-α (A), and three MAP kinase with c-Jun (B, C, D).
Results are presented as mean ±S.D. # and ## indicates the mean differs significantly between normal group and depilated group (p<0.05 and p<0.01, respectively). * indicates that the mean differs significantly between Astragaloside IV-treated group and depilated group (p<0.05).
Figure 5.
Expression of p21 and KGF (A), TNF-α and IL-1β.
Results are presented as mean ±S.D. # and ## indicates the mean differs significantly between normal group and depilated group (p<0.05 and p<0.01, respectively). * indicates that the mean differs significantly between Astragaloside IV-treated group and depilated group (p<0.05).
Figure 6.
Diagram illustrates the potential actions of Astragaloside IV on Fas/Fas L apoptotic pathway.
Astragaloside IV appear to block the cleavage of procaspase-8. As a result of the actions of Astragaloside IV, the release of Cyt c is inhibited, resulting in decreases of procaspase-9 and caspase-3. These activities lead to inhibition of apoptosis in hair keratinocyte. Fas/Fas L, Fas/Fas ligand; Cyt c, cytochrome c.