Alpinia officinarum Rhizome ameliorates the UVB induced photoaging through attenuating the phosphorylation of AKT and ERK

Abstract

Background Chronic ultraviolet (UV) exposure is one of the major external factors in skin aging, and repetitive UVB exposure induces extracellular matrix (ECM) damage as well as metabolic disease. Alpinia officinarum Rhizome (AOR) is a medicinal plant that has been traditionally used for treating rheumatism and whooping cough. However, the antiphotoaging effects of AOR remain unclear. We investigated the protective effects of water extracts of AOR (WEAOR) in terms of UVB-mediated ECM damage, wrinkle formation, inflammatory responses, and intracellular signaling on hairless mice and NIH-3T3 skin fibroblast cells. Methods WEAOR was administered to UVB-irradiated hairless mice. Wrinkle formation was assessed using the replica assay, epidermal changes through H&E staining, and collagen contents in mice skin through Masson’s trichrome staining. The expression of procollagen type-1 (COL1A1), metalloproteinase-1a (MMP-1a), and inflammatory cytokines (IL-6, IL-8, and MCP-3) in hairless mice skin and NIH-3T3 cells was investigated through qRT-PCR. The effects of WEAOR or signaling inhibitors on UVB-induced expression of intracellular mitogen-activated protein kinases (MAPKs) were estimated by Western blotting and qRT-PCR, respectively. Results Topical WEAOR significantly attenuated the UVB-induced wrinkle formation and epidermal thickening in the skin of hairless mice. WEAOR treatment also attenuated the UVB-induced expression of MMP-1a and COL1A1 and recovered the reduction of collagen content in mouse skin. These effects were confirmed in NIH-3T3 skin fibroblast cells. WEAOR treatment restored the UVB-induced COL1A1 and MMP-1a gene expression and attenuated the UVB-induced expression of IL-6, IL-8, and MCP-3 in NIH-3T3 cells. Notably, WEAOR attenuated UVB-induced phosphorylation of AKT and ERK, but not that of p38 and JNK in NIH-3T3 cells. In addition, the administration of AKT and ERK inhibitors restored the UVB-induced expression of MMP-1a and COL1A1 to an equal extent as WEAOR in NIH-3T3 cells. Conclusions The antiphotoaging properties of WEAOR were first evaluated in this study. Our results suggest that WEAOR may be a potential antiphotoaging agent that ameliorates UVB-induced photoaging processes via the AKT and ERK signaling pathways.

Kaempferide Prevents Photoaging of Ultraviolet-B Irradiated NIH-3T3 Cells and Mouse Skin via Regulating the Reactive Oxygen Species-Mediated Signalings

“…Previous studies have suggested that several flavonoids, a kind of polyphenol, have exhibited strong anti-photoaging activity, such as delphinidin, genistein, phloretin and salidroside [33][34][35][36]. Interestingly, in our previous study, water extracts of Alpinia officinarum rhizome (WEAOR) were first revealed to have strong anti-photoaging activity, and kaempferide, a flavonoid, was determined to be a major constituent of WEAOR [30]. Thus, as follow-up research, the anti-photoaging activity of kaempferide and its underlying molecular mechanism was investigated in this study.…”

“…The NIH-3T3 cells were lysed using a Tris-based protein lysis buffer [30] on ice for 1 h. After centrifuging (13,000× g, 4 °C, 15 min), the supernatants were used for Western blotting. Twenty micrograms of lysates were electrophoresed in sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) polyacrylamide gel and transferred to nitrocellulose membranes.…”

“…Twenty micrograms of lysates were electrophoresed in sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) polyacrylamide gel and transferred to nitrocellulose membranes. After blocking the nonspecific signals by incubating with blocking buffer [30], the membranes were reacted with each primary antibody (1:1500) during 12−14 h at 4 °C. After washing with tris-buffered saline with tween 20 (TBS-T), horseradish peroxidase (HRP) conjugated rabbit secondary antibody (1:3000) (Santa Cruz, Dallas, TX.…”

“…Interestingly, in our previous study, water extracts of the Alpinia officinarum rhizome (WEAOR) were revealed to have strong anti-photoaging activity, and KFD was determined to be a major constituent of WEAOR [30]. Based on these results, in this study, to determine whether KFD could be a functional single constituent of WEAOR, which has strong anti-photoaging activity, we evaluated the effects of KFD on UVB-induced photoaging processes in mice skin as well as NIH-3T3 skin fibroblast cells and investigated the underlying molecular mechanism of KFD-mediated anti-photoaging processes.…”

The Effect of α-Arbutin on UVB-Induced Damage and Its Underlying Mechanism

“…Ultraviolet radiation (UV) significantly accelerates the aging of the skin, with prolonged ultraviolet radiation-B (UVB) exposure frequently leading to the generation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and harm to biomolecules like proteins and nucleic acids in the skin (Kammeyer and Luiten, 2015) [3]. The excessive exposure to UVB radiation also leads to the release of inflammatory cytokines such as Interleukin-6 (IL-6), Interleukin-1β (IL-1β), and Tumor Necrosis Factor-α (TNF-α) (Kim et al, 2012;Zhang, C et al, 2021;Jung et al, 2022) [4][5][6]. Melanocytes generate melanin as a protective response when subjected to UV rays.…”