Effect of a Serenoa repens extract on human primary hair dermal papilla cells isolated from male and female donors

Human Hair Dermal Papilla Cells (HHDPC) are strongly implicated in hair growth cycle. The aim of this study was to test a Serenoa Repens Extract (SRE; nominal value 90% fatty acids; Euromed), on HHDPC obtained from the scalp of 2 healthy donors, an adult man and a 66 years old woman. At different times following incubation with SRE, cells were tested using commercial assays. On HHDPC from male donor, cell viability (24-48 h of incubation) was strongly inhibited by high concentrations of SRE (100-1000 μg/mL). On the same cells, however, cell proliferation was significantly increased by SRE (incubation 72 h) at 10 and 20 μg/ml (+24% and+28%, respectively), comparable to the effect produced by Epidermal Growth Factor (EGF) (+32%) after 72 hours of incubation [ 1 ]. Using cells from female donor, SRE at 20 μg/mL (72 h incubation), slight increased cell viability, suggesting that this concentration promotes healthy conditions. SRE at 30-40 μg/mL had no effect on cell viability but a slight decrease was observed at 50 μg/mL. On the same cells, proliferation was significantly increased by SRE (72 h incubation) at 20 μg/mL (+54% compared with control cells). At 120 h however, we did not observe an increase of proliferation by SRE at any concentration with respect to controls. We conclude that SRE (90% fatty acids) has the potential to be a treatment of alopecia in both male and female patients. Further studies will be necessary to identify the mechanism of action on cell proliferation. Publication History Article published online: 05 March 2026 © 2026. Thieme. All rights reserved. Georg Thieme Verlag KG Oswald-Hesse-Straße 50, 70469 Stuttgart, Germany