Anti-Inflammation Activities of Mycosporine-Like Amino Acids (MAAs) in Response to UV Radiation Suggest Potential Anti-Skin Aging Activity

Abstract

Certain photosynthetic marine organisms have evolved mechanisms to counteract UV-radiation by synthesizing UV-absorbing compounds, such as mycosporine-like amino acids (MAAs). In this study, MAAs were separated from the extracts of marine green alga Chlamydomonas hedleyi using HPLC and were identified as porphyra-334, shinorine, and mycosporine-glycine (mycosporine-Gly), based on their retention times and maximum absorption wavelengths. Furthermore, their structures were confirmed by triple quadrupole MS/MS. Their roles as UV-absorbing compounds were investigated in the human fibroblast cell line HaCaT by analyzing the expression levels of genes associated with antioxidant activity, inflammation, and skin aging in response to UV irradiation. The mycosporine-Gly extract, but not the other MAAs, had strong antioxidant activity in the 2,2-diphenyl-1-picryhydrazyl (DPPH) assay. Furthermore, treatment with mycosporine-Gly resulted in a significant decrease in COX-2 mRNA levels, which are typically increased in response to inflammation in the skin, in a concentration-dependent manner. Additionally, in the presence of MAAs, the UV-suppressed genes, procollagen C proteinase enhancer (PCOLCE) and elastin, which are related to skin aging, had increased expression levels equal to those in UV-mock treated cells. Interestingly, the increased expression of involucrin after UV exposure was suppressed by treatment with the MAAs mycosporine-Gly and shinorine, but not porphyra-334. This is the first report investigating the biological activities of microalgae-derived MAAs in human cells.

MAA-Palythine Compound of Three Red (Macro) Algae: Gelidiella acerosa, Acanthophora spicifera and Hypnea musciformis of Gulf of Mannar, Southeast Coast of India

“…Three different types of MAAs such as shinorine (λmax= 333.5 nm), porphyra-334 (λmax=332.3 nm) and palythine (λmax=317.9 nm) having retention times (RT) 1.26, 2.12 and 3.64 min, respectively, from Gelidium sp. and shinorine (λmax=332.3 nm), porphyra-334 (λmax=333.5 nm) and palythinol (λmax=332.5 nm) with RT 1.27, 2.13 and 4.61 min, respectively, from Ceramium sp., collected from the West Coast (Arabian Sea) of India (Pandey et al, 2017) The lyophilized methanol extract of Palmaria palmata found high polar MAAs i.e., palythine, shinorine, asterina-330 and porphyra and these compounds were separated and identified with the help of RP-HPLC in λ max 330 (Yuan et al, 2009;Carignan and Carreto, 2013;Sung-Suk et al, 2014).…”

Bioactive Ingredients from Microalgae: Food and Feed Applications

“…Also, more than 40 different species of microalgae are used in fish and shellfish farming (aquaculture) (Sen Roy and Pal 2015), as natural food/feed ingredients, a good source of protein, pigments and PUFAs also for pets and farm animals (Yaakob et al, 2014). Microalgae extracts are used also for tissue regeneration, wrinkle reduction as ingredients to skin and hair care products (Suh et al, 2014;Wang 2015). For wastewater treatments the microalgae biomass may remove nitrate and phosphate ions and further used as a raw material in biogas plants.…”

Porphyra-334, a mycosporine-like amino acid, attenuates UV-induced apoptosis in HaCaT cells

“…Cells were plated at a density of 0.5 ´ 10 6 cells per well in 6-well plates and were grown overnight. They were incubated with porphyra-334 (0.1 mg mL -1 ) for 30 min prior to UV irradiation, which was carried out as described previously (11). Cells were exposed to UV light with a Philips Original Home Solarium sun lamp (model HB 406/A, Philips, The Netherlands) equipped with a UV lamp, or were mock-treated, and incubated for 12 h. Three independent experiments of UV-treated HaCaT cells were performed.…”

“…The UV-induced damage to skin structure leads to significant changes in the expression levels of photoaging-associated genes, such as integrin and pro-collagen (9,10). In fact, a recent report has shown that MAAs from green algae protect skin against UV-induced skin damage through recovery of UV-suppressed expression of elastin and pro-collagen genes (11).…”