Fig. 4

Hair growth-stimulating effect of GSE in an in vivo model. a Observation of C57BL/6 mice hair growth for 3 weeks. b Histological analysis of hair follicles, mast cells, and stem cell factor expression on the back skin of C57BL/6 mice. c The numbers of mast cells were counted by toluidine blue staining. d Expression of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), hepatocyte growth factor (HGF), and transforming growth factor beta 1 (TGF-β1) in the back skin of C57BL/6 mice. The fold changes were normalized to the expression of glyceraldehyde 3-phosphate dehydrogenase; the values are expressed as the mean ± SEM. Values sharing the same superscript letters differ significantly at p < 0.05 by Duncan’s multiple range test. NC: negative control of C57BL/6 mice skin treated with dimethyl sulfoxide; PC: positive control of C57BL/6 mice skin treated with 5% minoxidil; GSE: C57BL/6 mice skin treated with 1,000 ppm GSE