313 Different polyamine levels in the vertex and occipital hair of pattern hair loss patients

Pattern hair loss generally begins from the vertex or front of the head. Androgenic steroids, particularly testosterone and dihydrotestosterone are related with pattern hair loss. They existed differently in the vertex and occipital region of scalp and involved in inducing ornithine decarboxylase (ODC) expression. ODC is central enzyme in polyamine biosynthesis, and involved in the proliferation of hair follicles. The polyamine produced by ODC plays an important role in pattern hair loss by presenting at different levels along the scalp area. This study was conducted to evaluate pathogenesis and diagnosis of patients with pattern hair loss by identifying the differences in polyamine levels according to the area of for scalp. For the profiling of polyamines in patients with pattern hair loss, a liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry-based quantitative profiling method was used. We investigated the differences in polyamine levels in different regions of the hair between patients with male-pattern hair loss and those with female pattern hair loss. We found almost polyamine levels were higher in vertex than occipital hair. Also we confirmed difference levels between N-acetyl polyamines and polyamines in same area of hair. Increased polyamine concentrations are characteristic of rapidly growing cells. Our results suggest that proliferation occurs at the vertex region rather than at the occipital region. High concentration of polyamine in vertex hair may relate with pattern baldness which begins at vertex. With further investigation about polyamines, it can use as biomarker of diagnosis and prognosis for pattern baldness.