Gene expression changes in skin of dihydrotestosterone-induced mice after treatment of a newly-developed traditional Chinese medicine formula, Hanlianxiang.

To investigate the effect of Hanlianxiang (HLX) for treatment of androgenetic alopecia, shaved C57BL/6J mice were induced with dihydrotestosterone and treated with extract of HLX every day. The skin samples were collected at 10 and 15 days after treatment. Overall design: Twenty-four mice were divided randomly into control, model, and treatment groups, and each group contains 8 mice. The control group received daily injections of normal saline and applied only solvent topically. The model group received daily injections of dihydrotestosterone and also applied solvent topically. The treatment group received daily injections of dihydrotestosterone and applied extract of HLX topically. For all the 3 groups, 4 mice were sacrificed at day 10 and the skin samples were collected; the remaining 4 mice were sacrificed at day 15 and the skin samples were collected.