Analysis of hair steroid hormone concentrations at different parts of the head by liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry

Abstract

Background: Steroid hormones are known to be associated with diseases like androgenetic alopecia (AGA) resulting in hair loss. The lack of a detailed analysis of the local concentration of steroids in different parts of the head underlies the rationale and purpose of this study.

Methods: To evaluate the concentration distributions of steroid hormones in hair in different parts of the head, hair samples of 8 healthy men from 9 point-areas covering the frontal, parietal, and occipital regions were collected. Eight steroid hormones were measured by using the LC-MS/MS and region-wise comparison for different hormones was done using the mean z-score and Tukey's HSD.

Results: Five of the 8 hormones had a high concentration in the parietal region, with dihydrotestosterone (DHT) showing a peak in the central parietal region (z = 1.59) suggesting a correlation with AGA's clinical presentation. Whereas, no significant differences were observed for testosterone and cortisol between the parietal and occipital regions. Higher DHT levels at the parietal region were also verified with a small group of AGA patients.

Conclusions: This research expands upon the role of steroid hormones in hair follicle tissue elucidating their relationship with disease, thus contributing to disease management.

Keywords: Androgenetic alopecia; Dihydrotestosterone; Hair analysis; Hair cortisol; Steroid hormone.