Female pattern hair loss is a common but difficult to manage condition. Commonly used treatments include oral antiandrogens such as spironolactone and topical minoxidil. The response to treatment is variable. We report a woman whose hair loss progressed while using spironolactone and topical minoxidil in combination, but reversed with flutamide, a potent androgen receptor antagonist.

Mechanical stress which would cause deleterious adhesive effects on podocytes is considered a major contributor to the early progress of diabetic nephropathy (DN). Our previous study has shown that spironolactone could ameliorate podocytic adhesive capacity in diabetic rats. Autophagy has been reported to have a protective role against renal injury. The present study investigated the underlying...

Enhanced NRG1-ERBB4 signaling is a risk pathway in schizophrenia, and corresponding mouse models display several endophenotypes of the disease. Nonetheless, pathway-directed treatment strategies with clinically applicable compounds have not been identified. Here, we applied a cell-based assay using the split TEV technology to screen a library of clinically applicable compounds to identify modul...

Elevated aldosterone levels induce a spironolactone-inhibitable decrease in cardiac sarcolemmal Na+-K+ pump function. Because pump inhibition has been shown to contribute to myocyte hypertrophy, restoration of Na+-K+ pump function may represent a possible mechanism for the cardioprotective action of mineralocorticoid receptor (MR) blockade. The present study examines whether treatment with the ...

OBJECTIVES The study was designed to comprehensively evaluate the circadian effects of aldosterone blockade on autonomic tone and QT dispersion in chronic heart failure (CHF). BACKGROUND Spironolactone therapy given in addition to angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors improved survival in CHF, but the mechanism of its benefit is uncertain. Experimental evidence suggests that aldosterone ma...

BACKGROUND We evaluated the role of the aldosterone blocker spironolactone in attenuating long-term pressure overload-induced cardiac remodeling and heart failure (HF) in spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHR). METHODS AND RESULTS Thirteen month-old male SHR were assigned to control (SHR-C, n=20) or spironolactone (SHR-SPR, 20 mg/kg/day, n=24) groups for six months. Normotensive Wistar-Kyoto r...

ESRD treated with dialysis is associated with increased left ventricular hypertrophy, which, in turn, is related to high mortality. Mineralocorticoid receptor antagonists improve survival in patients with chronic heart failure; however, the effects in patients undergoing dialysis remain uncertain. We conducted a multicenter, open-label, prospective, randomized trial with 158 patients receiving ...

The aim of the present study was to evaluate the effects of three different anti-androgenic drug-therapy regimens, Diane 35 (cyproterone acetate (CPA) [2 mg] and ethinyl estradiol [35 microg]) plus CPA, Diane 35 plus spironolactone, and spironolactone alone, in patients with hirsutism. In this prospective, randomized clinical study, 79 subjects with idiopathic hirsutismus were studied. The pati...

Recent studies have suggested that primary hyperaldosteronism may be present in more than 10% of patients with hypertension. We aimed to estimate the prevalence in unselected patients in primary care, and investigate the influence of current drug treatment upon the aldosterone/renin ratio (ARR) and its prediction of blood pressure response to spironolactone. We measured blood pressure, plasma e...

OBJECTIVES We hypothesized that the increased urinary Ca2+ and Mg2+ excretion and bone loss that accompanies aldosteronism is aggravated with furosemide and is attenuated by spironolactone. BACKGROUND Furosemide, a loop diuretic, is commonly used in patients with congestive heart failure (CHF), in which chronic, inappropriate (dietary Na+) elevations in plasma aldosterone (ALDO) and a catabol...