Salicornia herbacea (SH) is a halophyte that grows in the salt marshes along the coastline of South Korea, and is known to have antioxidative activity. In this study, the antioxidative and skin-whitening effects of SH aqueous extract were investigated in human dermal fibroblasts (HDFs) and B16 melanoma cells. The water extract of SH had potent antioxidative capacity and protected HDFs from tert-butyl hydroperoxide (tbOOH)-induced oxidative stress in a dose-dependent manner. In a cell cycle analysis, pretreatment with SH reversed the apoptotic cell death induced by tbOOH in HDFs. Additionally, the incubation of SH in mushroom tyrosinase inhibited the oxidation of l-dopa to o-dopaquinone, which implies that SH is a potent tyrosinase inhibitor. An SH treatment to B16 melanoma cells decreased the synthesis of melanin and inhibited tyrosinase activity. These results collectively indicate that SH had antioxidative and whitening effects on skin and would be a good candidate for skin rejuvenating agent.
AMPK activators such as LQ can protect hepatocytes against oxidative hepatic injury and mitochondrial dysfunction induced by serum deprivation, and the beneficial effect might be mediated through the LKB1 pathway as well as FXR induction.
Microglia are the resident macrophages in the central nervous system (CNS) and play essential roles in neuronal homeostasis and neuroinflammatory pathologies. Recently, microglia have been shown to contribute decisively to neuropathologic processes after ischemic stroke. Furthermore, natural compounds have been reported to attenuate inflammation and pathologies associated with neuroinflammation. Tryptanthrin (indolo[2,1-b]quinazoline-6,12-dione) is a phytoalkaloid with known anti-inflammatory effects in cells. In present study, the authors confirmed middle cerebral artery occlusion (MCAO) injury triggers the activation of microglia in brain tissue, and investigated whether tryptanthrin influences the function of mouse murine BV2 microglia under LPS-induced inflammatory conditions in vitro. It was found tryptanthrin protected BV2 microglia cells against LPS-induced inflammation and inhibited the induction of M1 phenotype microglia under inflammatory conditions. In addition, tryptanthrin reduced the production of pro-inflammatory cytokines in BV2 microglia cells via nuclear factor erythroid 2-related factor 2 (Nrf2)/heme oxygenase 1 (HO-1) signaling and NF-κB signaling. The authors suggest that tryptanthrin might alleviate the progress of neuropathologies by controlling microglial functions under neuroinflammatory conditions.
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