How the seeds of Delphinium staphisagria promote hair growth in humans is yet to be discovered. This lack of information leads us to the investigation of hair promoting effects of seeds of Delphinium staphisagria in-vitro. Extract prepared from the Seed of Delphinium staphisagria (ESDS) - traditionally used for hair loss treatment - was selected and tested for the cytotoxic and angiogenic potential in endothelial cells (HUVECs) and human keratinocytes (HaCaT) cells. The effects of extract was determined by using in-vitro colorimetric MTT [3-(4,5-dimethythiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide] cytotoxicity assay. To identify the compounds that induce angiogenesis, we applied matrigel capillary assay in-vitro using HUVECs. Vinegar and water extracts of D. staphisagria seeds significantly promoted the proliferation of human keratinocyte cells by 137, 139, 143, 149 and 147 % at the concentration of 100, 120, 200, 250 and 300 μg/mL compared with vehicle -treated control, respectively at 24 h. HUVECs viability remained the same with the control group at the concentration 1, 10, 20 and 40 μg/mL after 24 h. Results demonstrated that ESDS did not cause toxicity in human keratinocytes and endothelial cells, while inducing the angiogenic activity in-vitro. D. staphisagria seeds promote hair growth without overt cytotoxicity and through inducing angiogenesis. Based on the information from the traditional uses and our experimental results, D. staphisagria's seeds appear to be a good candidate for the promotion of hair growth.
Keywords: Seed of Delphinium staphisagria; angiogenesis; endothelial cells; keratinocytes; promotion of hair growth.