Korean J Physiol Pharmacol.  2021 Nov;25(6):497-506. 10.4196/kjpp.2021.25.6.497.

Depilatory creams increase the number of hair follicles, and dermal fibroblasts expressing interleukin-6, tumor necrosis factor-α, and tumor necrosis factor-β in mouse skin

• Tsai PF
• Chou FP
• Yu TS
• Lee HJ
• Chiu CT

• KMID: 2521475
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.4196/kjpp.2021.25.6.497

Abstract

Besides using for hair removal, depilatory agents have been considered to be used as a penetration enhancer for transepidermal drug delivery. To examine the effect in hair follicles (HFs), two commercially available depilatory creams were tested on the dorsal skin of mice to monitor the effect deep into the skin structure. Fifteen male BALB/c mice were used in this study. Depilatory creams were applied to the dorsal skin of the same animal using shaved and untouched treatments as controls to minimize individual differences. Skin samples were collected at three days, one week and two weeks (n = 5 for each) after the treatment, and subjected for hematoxylin-eosin staining, and immunohistochemical analysis for proinflammatory cytokines. The morphological examination showed an increase in the thickness of epidermal layer of the depilatory cream-treated skin at early time points and in the subcutis at two weeks. Depilatory cream promoted entry of anagen phase and increased the number of hair follicles in the subcutis at one and two weeks. Immunohistochemistry showed elevated percentages of dermal fibroblasts expressing interleukin-6, tumor necrosis factor-α, and tumor necrosis factor-β. Shaving process increased the thickness of epidermis and dermis as depilatory creams did, but did neither induce the expression of proinflammatory cytokines in the dermal fibroblasts nor the number of HFs. The results suggested that the commercially available depilatory creams caused a transient minor inflammatory response of the skin and increased the levels of cytokines that might subsequently affect hair growth.

Keyword

Dermis; Hair follicle; Inflammation; Interleukin-6; Tumor necrosis factor-α

Figure

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  Fig. 1 Morphological changes of skin and subcutis induced by depilatory creams. Representative H&E stain (10×) of transverse sections of dorsal skin tissues received topical application of depilatory creams, and shaved and control (untouched) treatments for three days (A–D), one week (E–H) and two weeks (I–L) in BALB/c mice (n = 5). The thickness of epidermis (M), dermis (N) and subcutis (O) layers of transverse skin sections received different treatments were measured and presented as percent of control. (P) Schematic diagram of application of two brands of depilatory creams (DC-N and DC-S) on mouse dorsal skin along with shaved and control treatments. All data were presented as mean ± SD and analyzed by one-way RMANOVA with a post-hoc analysis of Holm Sidak test for pairwise comparisons. Arrow, hair follicle in the early anagen. *p < 0.05 and **p < 0.01 vs. control. Scale bar, 100 μm.

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  Fig. 2 Induced anagen entry and number of hair follicle by treatment of depilatory creams. Representative H&E stain (10×) of longitudinal sections of dorsal skin tissues received topical application of depilatory creams and shaved and control (untouched) treatments for three days (A–D), one week (E–H) and two weeks (I–L) in BALB/c mice (n = 5). (M) The number of hair follicles in subcutis were counted and presented as mean ± SD and analyzed by one-way RMANOVA with a post-hoc analysis of Holm Sidak test for pairwise comparisons. Scale bar, 100 μm. Arrow, hair follicle in the early anagen. *p < 0.05 and **p < 0.01 vs. control.

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  Fig. 3 Induced expression of interleukin-6 (IL-6) in dermal fibroblasts by depilatory creams. Representative of histological images (20×) stained with IL-6 antiserum of dorsal skin tissues received topical application of depilatory creams and shaved and control (untouched) treatments for three days (A–D), one week (E–H) and two weeks (I–L) in BALB/c mice (n = 5). (M) Percentage of IL-6 positive fibroblast. Scale bar, 100 μm. All data were presented as mean ± SD and analyzed by one-way RMANOVA with a post-hoc analysis of Holm Sidak test for pairwise comparisons. Arrow, IL-6 positive fibroblast. *p < 0.05 vs. control.

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  Fig. 4 Induced expression of tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) in dermal fibroblasts by depilatory creams. Representative of histological images (20×) stained with TNF-α antiserum of dorsal skin tissues received topical application of depilatory creams and shaved and control (untouched) treatments for three days (A–D), one week (E–H) and two weeks (I–L) in BALB/c mice (n = 5). (M) Percentages of TNF-α positive fibroblast. Scale bar, 100 μm. All data were presented as mean ± SD and analyzed by one-way RMANOVA with a post-hoc analysis of Holm Sidak test for pairwise comparisons. Arrow, TNF-α positive fibroblast. *p < 0.05 and **p < 0.01 vs. control.

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  Fig. 5 Induced expression of tumor necrosis factor-β (TNF-β) in dermal fibroblasts by depilatory creams. Representative of histological images (20×) stained with TNF-β antiserum of dorsal skin tissues received topical application of depilatory creams and shaved and control (untouched) treatments for three days (A–D), one week (E–H) and two weeks (I–L) in BALB/c mice (n = 5). (M) Percentage of TNF-β positive fibroblast. Scale bar, 100 μm. All data were presented as mean ± SD and analyzed by one-way RMANOVA with a post-hoc analysis of Holm Sidak test for pairwise comparisons. Arrow, TNF-β positive fibroblast. *p < 0.05 vs. control.

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