Spectral.DNC-S is today's most complex innovation to optimize hair and prevent its thinning because it expresses years of research, contains novel ion-channel openers, and transports key compounds for maximum stability. Prior to this minoxidil-free formula, many of the most promising combinations of ingredients had proven unstable. But in Spectral.DNC-S, more of these materials can be combined successfully. It is laden with beneficial agents, and a dual-chamber delivery system expands the capacity of one product to contain them all. In the complex biology of scalp, novel combinations of ion-channel-opening compounds, similar to minoxidil but from natural sources, can mimic pharmaceuticals but without the side effects. In this product, they can be deployed through a unique cosmetic treatment, not a drug. This new modality shifts the paradigm of hair-follicle care, becoming a new standard to target a wider spectrum of symptoms. The passionate pursuit of more advanced biotechnologies guides all development at DS Laboratories, whose objectives are wide-spectrum activity, long-term efficacy, comfortable wear, and improved overall health. Spectral.DNC-S means high performance in a healthy environment, unlike minoxidil-based products, which can irritate scalp and leave a greasy, sticky residue.
Hair-growth cycle
Follicles cycle through three phases: anagen (growth), catagen (regression), and telogen (resting). In successive cycles, a follicle replaces its hair strand with another that may be either the same size or finer (balding) or thicker (treated). Some ion-channel openers stimulate follicles to produce longer, darker hairs.
Anagen phase may last two to five years for long scalp hairs, or just a few weeks for short body hairs. Rates of growth are similar. In androgenetic alopecia (male pattern baldness), hormones induce follicles to miniaturize and produce vellus (light) hairs.
Despite decades of intense research and interest, our understanding of follicle function remains rudimentary. The oldest known ion-channel opener for hair growth, minoxidil, works only on part of the scalp and only for a subset of users. Plus, it carries side effects.
Greater understanding of how ion-channel openers work is leading to more effective treatments.
Ion-channel openers
DS Laboratories focuses its research on ion channels, the cell-membrane channels selectively permeable to ions such as calcium, sodium, and especially, potassium.
The company searches for new potassium-channel openers by using DiBAC4, a voltage-sensitive fluorescent dye for the measurement of membrane potential. Cells that exhibit decreased fluorescence reveal good channel-opening activities. New, naturally sourced openers are formulated into Spectral.DNC-S.
Channel openers and blockers oppose each other's effects on hair growth. Reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction has identified potassium-channel-component gene expression, including the regulatory sulfonylurea receptors SUR1 and SUR2B. In hair bulbs, epithelial matrix tissues express SUR1, and dermal papilla and sheath tissues exhibit SUR2B.
Recently, UK researchers used several approaches — organ culture, molecular biological, and immunohistological — to confirm that adenosine-triphosphate-sensitive potassium channels were indeed present in human hair follicles. Minoxidil was the first potassium-channel opener widely associated with new hair growth, although its exact mechanism of action remains a mystery.
Since human follicular papilla cells contain ion channels that respond to openers and blockers, new openers targeted to these channels can treat hair-growth disorders
Potassium channel morphology
Adenosine-triphosphate-sensitive potassium channels are protein channels that control the flow of potassium ions across cell membranes. Diverse compounds can cause them to open or close. Potassium-channel conductance is a control mechanism in hair follicles.
At least 15 types of potassium channels have been classified into four subtypes: voltage dependent, calcium dependent, receptor coupled, and miscellaneous. The potassium channels associated with hair growth work via sensitivity to adenosine triphosphate (ATP). They are complexes of pore-forming, inwardly rectifying, potassium-channel and sulfonylurea-receptor subunits.
These channels link the electrical activity of a cell to its metabolic state, mediating smooth-muscle relaxation, insulin secretion, and neurotransmitter release. Study methods include electrophysiology (electrical properties of cells), direct measurement of potassium flux, and pharmacologic techniques.
Intracellular ATP induces channel inhibition, and ADP induces channel opening. Openers relax smooth muscle and induce hypotension. Some newly identified openers include cyclobutenediones, dihydropyridine-related structures, and tertiary carbinols.
Potassium channel function
In vitro, tiny doses of potassium-channel openers can relax vascular tissues by reducing cellular calcium levels and muscle tone. Conversely, sulfonylureas and other drugs can block ATP-sensitive potassium channels.
The older drugs minoxidil, pinacidil, cromakalim, and nicorandil, as well as some newly discovered channel openers, have been shown to maintain hair growth in vibrissa follicles cultured from primates.
In humans, the openers first associated with hair growth were diazoxide, pinacidil, and minoxidil, which was developed to treat hypertension, then discovered to induce hypertrichosis (hairiness). All of these compounds have been shown to maintain proliferation and differentiation of the epithelium that forms the hair shaft.
More evidence linking potassium-channel openers to hair growth comes from studies with primates that display androgen-dependent balding similar to humans. Multiple channel openers cause hair regrowth in the primates.
Applied topically, potassium channel openers increase hair length, weight, and density by inducing telogen-phase follicles back into anagen phase and by prolonging hair growth. Some compounds also increase blood flow in the scalp. In murine studies, they increased fenestrations (branching) in follicular capillaries, improving blood flow. Not all vasodilators, however, are associated with hair growth.
Adenosine-triphosphate-sensitive potassium channels consist of eight subunits arranged in two rings. The inner ring of four inwardly rectifying channel subunits forms the pore through which potassium ions pass. The outer ring comprises four regulatory sulfonylurea-receptor subunits that can alter channel activity in response to nucleotides or drugs.
By helping to elucidate the forms present in human follicles, DS Laboratories can develop new therapies to promote hair growth, instead of relying on old-style minoxidil.
Sodium channels
Another ion-channel under investigation is the epithelial sodium channel. Ionic fluxes in this channel appear to affect critical aspects of keratinocyte differentiation, a key part of hair and skin growth. These activities include the synthesis of key proteins, the enzymatic catalysis of protein cross-linking, and lipid secretion.
In the epithelial sodium channel, alpha and beta subunits are enhanced as keratinocytes differentiate, according to murine studies. When the alpha subunit was inactivated, results included epithelial hyperplasia, abnormal nuclei, and premature secretion of lipids.
The data suggest that the epithelial sodium channel modulates ionic signaling for specific aspects of epidermal differentiation.
