212 JOURNAL OF THE SOCIETY OF COSMETIC CHEMISTS RESULTS BINDING ABILITY OF THE ANTI-KERATIN ANTIBODY TO HAIR FIBER The binding ability of the anti-keratin antibody to hair sections is shown in Figure 1. The absorbance indicates that binding of antibodies to hair sections was increased in proportion to the concentration of the anti-keratin antibody, but not of non-specific antibody. This result indicates that the anti-keratin antibody does possess the ability to bind to hair. The abi'lity of the antibody to bind to the damaged hair fiber is shown in Figure 2. No difference was observed in the amount of non-specific antibody binding to virgin hair or to damaged hair. On the other hand, the binding of the anti-keratin antibody was 1.5 o.5 1000 100 10 ! Concentration of Antibody (ng/ml) Figure 1. The binding ability of antibody to hair sections. The binding of antibody to hair sections was detected by using an indirect ELISA method. Hair sections were incubated with the antibody (C)) and with non-specific antibody (O).

EFFECT OF ANTI-KERATIN ANTIBODY ON HAIR 213 Virgin hair Permed hair Brushed hair Non-spcific Ab. Anti-keratin Ab. Non-spcific Ab. Anti-keratin Ab. Non-spcific Ab. Anti-keratin Ab. 0 0.1 ! Absorbance in 492 nm 0.2 0.3 0.4 ! ! ! ! I **_]_ 1 I ' ** I Figure 2. Binding abilities of the anti-keratin antibody to various hair fibers. Various hair fibers were treated with antibodies. The antibody binding to each hair fiber was detected by using an indirect ELISA method. *p 0.05, **p 0.01, Dunerr method for statistical analysis. significantly increased in the permed hair compared with non-specific antibody, as well as in the brushed hair, while no difference was observed on the virgin hair. The binding of the anti-keratin antibody to the damaged hair was significantly increased compared with virgin hair. The antibody bound more to the brushed hair than to the permed hair. These results show that the anti-keratin antibody bound specifically to the damaged hair. TENSILE PROPERTIES OF HAIR The stress-strain characteristics of human hair fibers damaged by perming and then treated with the antibody are shown in Table I. The elastic modulus and the tensile strength of hair treated with anti-keratin antibody were significantly increased. There was no significant variation in elongation. This result indicates that anti-keratin anti- body increased elastic modulus in the Hooken region to improve the tensile strength of damaged hair. Table I Effects of the Anti-Keratin Antibody on Tensile Properties Control Treatment with antibody Elastic modulus (N/M 2) Tensile strength (g/cm 2) Elongation (%) 4.3 -+ 0.3 x109 1.48 _+ 0.11 x106 52.0 _+ 1.2 5.3 -+ 0.5* x109 1.55 -+ 0.03* x106 52.4 _+ 0.8 Data are shown as mean _+ SEM (n = 21). * p 0.05, compared to control by paired t-test.