Our results clearly show that Dermud has protective, anti-oxidant and anti-inflammatory properties that can antagonize biological effects of UVB irradiation in skin. It may therefore be able to reduce skin photodamage and photoaging, and more generally to reduce oxidative stress and inflammation in skin pathologies.

No abstract

Skin organ culture proved to be an integrated model appropriate for in vitro analysis of UVB biologic effects and their correlations, and for the study of non-invasive diagnostic methods in cellular and molecular terms.

Etodolac is the first anti-inflammatory drug belonging to the tetrahydropyranoindole class. In contrast to several other common anti-inflammatory drugs, etodolac exhibited an unusually high potency as an inhibitor of established adjuvant arthritis relative to its activity against carrageenan paw edema in the rat. This phenomenon led us to investigate whether the ability of NSAIDs to inhibit prostaglandin biosynthesis differed between cultures of macrophages, which are present in inflammatory exudates, and cultures of synoviocytes and chondrocytes, which contribute to inflammation of the articulating joint. Although other anti-inflammatory drugs were found to be equally active in all three cell types, etodolac was found to be much more effective on the cells of the joint than on the macrophage. This differential activity may be responsible for the striking efficacy of etodolac as an anti-arthritic drug.

Systemic antipsoriatic therapies have potentially life-threatening, long-term side effects. The efficacy of topical drugs is poor, but may be improved by the use of delivery systems based on drug nanoparticles. To produce nanoparticles (NP) composed of cyclosporin A, a classical antipsoriatic drug, and to investigate their penetration and biological effects in human skin affected by psoriatic symptoms, poly-ε-caprolactone (PCL) and cyclosporin A (CsA) NP were prepared by the solvent evaporation method. Skin penetration was followed using fluorescently labeled NP in human skin organ cultures (hSOC). Psoriatic symptoms were mimicked in hSOC by the treatment with epidermal growth factor (EGF) and bacterial lipopolysaccharide (LPS). Cell viability in hSOC was evaluated by the resazurin test, and cytokine secretion into the growth medium was measured by immunodetection. We showed that topically applied NP diffused throughout the epidermis within two hours and through the dermis within the following day. They significantly reduced the secretion of inflammatory cytokines IL-1β, IL-6, IL-8, IL-20 and IL-23. At active doses, no cytotoxicity was detected. This type of NP display relevant properties for the use as topical anti-inflammatory agents and may help to resorb psoriatic lesions.