The roots of Rosa multiflora Thunberg have been used in traditional oriental medicine as remedies for rheumatic arthralgia and scabies. In this study, the anti-fungal, anti-oxidant, and anti-inflammatory activities of a supercritical extract of Rosa multiflora root were investigated in vitro. To investigate the anti-oxidant and anti-inflammatory effects of the supercritical extract, 2,2'-azino-bis(3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulphonic acid (ABTS) radical scavenging activity, and the inhibition of nitric oxide production in lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-stimulated RAW 264.7 cells were examined, respectively. In addition, the anti-fungal activities of the extract were assessed. The results showed a concentration-dependent, increase in ABTS radical scavenging activity. The supercritical fluid extracts of Rosa multiflora root exhibited low toxicity to RAW 264.7 cells at 100 μg/mL the highest concentration tested. Cells stimulated with LPS produced more nitric oxide than normal control cells; however, cells treated with the supercritical fluid extract decreased this production in a concentration-dependent manner. Finally, the supercritical fluid extracts showed significant anti-fungal activity. These results suggest that extracts of the roots of Rosa multiflora might be used to develop potent anti-fungal, anti-oxidant, and anti-inflammatory agents, and may be useful as ingredients for related new functional cosmetic materials.

In this study, to develop hair growth agents using natural products which has excellent ability to promote hair growth effect and fewer side effect, animal experiment and clinical trials was performed to evaluate hair growth promotion effect of herbal product containing Rosa mutiflora roots extracts as a main component (RMHP). 4-week-old male C57BL/6 mice were removed the dorsal hair using thioglycolate, and applied 15% EtOH solution as a negative control, 5% minoxidil as a positive control and RMHP to dorsal skin. In the results of macroscopy and photo-interpretation, RMHP group recorded 100% (+++++) of hair growth was proved to significantly stimulate hair growth against 80% (++++) negative control group. 37 patients were treated with RMHP and evaluated the therapeutic effect at 16 weeks. Hair density was significantly increased at 16 weeks after applying RMHP (125.0±4.9 FU/cm2) compared to before treatment (104.3±4.7 FU/cm2, p 〈 0.05), and hair thickness were also significantly increased (0.066±0.003 mm) than before treatment (0.055±0.002 mm, p 〈 0.05). The result of clinical photo-interpretation using 7-point rating scale assessment, after 16 weeks clinical symptoms were evaluated to significantly improve with 1.23±0.05 (p 〈 0.05). Therefore, the results of this study were observed that RMHP have hair loss prevention effect and hair growth promotion effect to hair loss patients.