Indian Journal of Natural Products and Resources Vol. 3(1), March 2012, pp. 14-19 Potentiality of aqueous leaf extract of Trichosanthes cucumerina Linn. on hair growth promotion in Wistar albino rats S Sandhya*, J Chandrasekhar, K R Vinod and David Banji Department of Pharmacognosy, Nalanda College of Pharmacy, Cherlapally, Hyderabad Main Road, Nalgonda-508 001, Andhra Pradesh, India Received 3 December 2010; Accepted 19 January 2012 Trichosanthes cucumerina Linn. (Snake gourd) is an annual climber which is widely distributed in Asian countries. It is a rich source of nutrition. The leaves of the plant are used by the folklore for alopecia. Hence, in the present investigation the hair growth promoting activity was evaluated on Wistar albino rats. The preliminary chemical screening of the aqueous extract revealed the presence of carbohydrates, flavonoids, saponins, flavonol glycoside and triterpenoid saponins. The animals were divided into four groups and the control group was applied with water, standard group with 2% Minoxidil and two test groups with 150 and 300 mg/kg of aqueous extract of T. cucumerina leaves. Qualitative and quantitative parameters were evaluated. It was observed that the hair growth completion, length of hair, percentage of hair follicles and diameter of bald patch and concentration of minerals in the blood for the test animals applied with 300 mg/kg drug was comparable with that of the animals treated with 2% Minoxidil. This study reveals that the leaves of T. cucumerina are a potent hair growth promoter which supports the traditional claim. Keywords: Alopecia, Anagen, Bald patch, Hair follicles, Hair growth promoter, Minerals, Minoxidil, Snake gourd, Telogen, Trichosanthes cucumerina. IPC code; Int. cl. (2011.01)  A61K 36/42, A61K 127/00, A61P 17/14 Introduction Traditional systems of medicine continue to be widely practiced on many accounts. Population rise, inadequate supply of drugs, prohibitive cost of treatments, side effects of several allopathic drugs and development of resistance to currently used drugs for infectious diseases have lead to increased emphasis on the use of plant materials as a source of medicines for a wide variety of human ailments 1 . Hair growth is common biological process observed in animals and human beings. Hair on scalp grows about 3-4 mm/day or 6 inches per year. The hair growth and loss is completely random and is not seasonal or cyclic. There are three stages of hair growth. The stages include anagen (growth phase), catagen (transitional phase) and telogen (resting phase). Anagen is the first phase of hair growth cycle which is also known as the growing phase. At any one time, 80-90 percent of hair follicles on scalp are in the anagen phase. During this period hair grows continuously for 3 to 7 years at the rate of half an inch a month. After the anagen phase, hair will turn into a transitional phase before going to rest. This short phase is known as the catagen phase which last for 2 to 4 weeks. During this time, hair detaches from the blood supply. The detached follicle will slowly shrink to about 1/6 its size. The hair bulb stops producing the colour pigment. The bulb will be pushed upwards towards the surface when the new hair is formed. Approximately 2-3% of hair will be in this phase in scalp. Telogen is the final phase of hair growth cycle. It is also known as the resting phase where the hair follicles will slowly fall off and replaced by a new hair. Around 10-15% of the hair in the scalp will be in telogen phase. 50-100 hairs from this phase will shed daily. This period lasts for 3 months before the hair fall out 2 . A number of things like illness or a major surgery, hormonal problems, pregnancy, anticoagulants, medicines used for gout, high blood pressure or heart problems, excess of vitamin A, birth control pills and antidepressants and fungal infections may cause hair fall. Trichosanthes cucumerina Linn. (Family  Cucurbitaceae) commonly called as Snake gourd is a monoecious annual climbing herb with branched _________ *Corresponding author: E-mail: sanpharm@gmail.com Phone: 09010055004 (Mob.)