Mechanistic study on the treatment of androgenetic alopecia with Platycladus orientalis leaf extract via regulation of the VEGFA/Bcl2 pathway: An in silico and in vitro study

To identify the active compounds of Platycladus orientalis leaf extract (POE) and quantify its efficacy against androgenetic alopecia (AGA) via vascular endothelial growth factor A (VEGFA)/B-cell lymphoma 2 (Bcl-2) signaling. Active compounds and their potential targets in POE were first identified. A compound–target interaction network was constructed using network pharmacology approaches, and molecular docking was employed to evaluate the binding affinities of key compounds to their predicted targets. Furthermore, in vitro experiments were conducted to assess the effects of key bioactive constituents on the expression levels of proteins involved in the VEGFA/Bcl2 pathway. POE promotes dermal papilla cell proliferation and angiogenesis by activating VEGFA/Bcl-2 signaling. Network pharmacology screened 28 compounds against 506 androgenetic alopecia targets; the top 6 (amentoflavone, isoquercitrin, afzelin, phloretin, pinusolide, and quinic acid) were docked to VEGFA (threshold Vina score < −7.0). POE at 3.13 µg mL −1 increased dermal papilla cell number by 15.6 ± 1.2% versus control ( P < .01) and up-regulated VEGFA (0.76 ± 0.02 vs 0.64 ± 0.03), Bcl-2 (0.86 ± 0.01 vs 0.79 ± 0.01) and phosphorylated B-cell lymphoma 2 (0.81 ± 0.01 vs 0.71 ± 0.01); all P < .01. Efficacy matched 10 µg mL −1 minoxidil ( P > .05).