694 Equol’s efficacy is greater than astaxanthin for antioxidants, extracellular matrix integrity & breakdown, growth factors and inflammatory biomarkers via human skin gene expression analysis

Abstract

Skin homeostasis and aging represent complex molecular and chemical biological processes that are influenced by endogenous and exogenous factors. Numerous plant-derived compounds are known to exert positive actions on skin health. Astaxanthin (asta) is a known powerful antioxidant and anti-inflammatory skin agent, while equol’s beneficial dermal health properties have been recently reported. In this in vitro study, asta was compared to equol to determine the effects of each phytochemical via human skin gene expression by quantitative qPCR-mRNA analysis. Asta or equol @ 1.0 % were dissolved in dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) and topically applied to epidermal full-thickness (EFT) skin cultures for 24 hours. Where appropriate, the treatment groups were compared to each other and the DMSO vehicle. Overall, 90 skin target biomarkers were analyzed across 9 skin function categories; 63 genes (or 70 % of the total) are reported here. In 39 skin biomarkers equol significantly altered (increased or decreased) the parameters in a positive manner compared to asta. Asta significantly influenced 6 dermal genes compared to equol and 18 of the skin biomarkers were not significantly different between the two treatment groups. The most striking results displayed significantly greater effects of equol compared to asta for the antioxidants (AHR, GPX1, HMOX1, MT1A, MT2A, SOD1, TXN & TXNRD1), growth factors (BMP4, CTGF, EDN1, ICAM1 & KITLG/SCF), extracellular integrity (COL1A1, COL17A1, ELN, TIMP1, SERPINH1 & VCAN), extracellular breakdown (F2RL1/PAP2, KLKs 5 & 7, MMPs 1, 2 & 9, SERPINB3 & SPINK5), and the inflammatory biomarkers (CSF2/GM-CSF, IL1A, IL-6, PTGS1/COX1, TLR2 & TNF). These findings reveal that equol’s efficacy is greater than asta for various gene biomarkers suggesting that equol may be incorporated into topical and oral applications to improve skin health and reduce photo-aging.