Explore the Anti-Acne Mechanism of Licorice Flavonoids Based on Metabonomics and Microbiome.

Shi-Fa Ruan,Zhu-Xian Wang,Cui-Ping Jiang,Qiang Liu,Yankui Yi,Ting-Ting Chen,Qun Shen,Chun-Yan Shen,Qun-Qun Du,Li Liu,Wen-Feng Wu,Hui Li,Hong-Xia Zhu,Yi Hu

doi:10.3389/fphar.2022.832088

Abstract

Acne vulgaris is one of the most common inflammatory dermatoses in dermatological practice and can affect any gender or ethnic group. Although in previous studies, we had found that licorice flavonoids (LCF) play an anti-acne role by inhibiting PI3K-Akt signaling pathways and mitochondrial activity, the mechanism of LCF regulating skin metabolism, serum metabolism and skin microbes is still unclear. Here, we performed a full spectrum analysis of metabolites in the skin and serum using UHPLC-Triple TOF-MS. The results showed that LCF could treat acne by regulating the metabolic balance of amino acids, lipids and fatty acids in serum and skin. Similarly, we performed Illumina Hiseq sequencing of DNA from the skin microbes using 16S ribosomal DNA identification techniques. The results showed that LCF could treat acne by regulating the skin microbes to interfere with acne and make the microecology close to the normal skin state of rats. In summary, this study confirmed the anti-acne mechanism of LCF, namely by regulating metabolic balance and microbial balance. Therefore, this discovery will provide theoretical guidance for the preparation development and clinical application of the drug.

Highlights

Acne vulgaris is a common chronic inflammatory disease of the skin that causes inflammation or noninflammatory lesions by affecting the skin’s follicular sebaceous glands (Bershad, 2001; Chen et al, 2021; Zhu et al, 2021)
Non-targeted metabolomics and skin bacteriology were used to explore the anti-acne mechanism of licorice flavonoids (LCF)
Non-targeted metabolomics studies have shown that LCF can play an anti-acne role by modulating metabolites closely related to sebum overflow, inflammatory response, and abnormal follicular keratoses, such as leucine, glycerol phospholipids (GPs), stearic acid (SA), and oleic acid (OA)

Summary

Introduction

Acne vulgaris is a common chronic inflammatory disease of the skin that causes inflammation or noninflammatory lesions by affecting the skin’s follicular sebaceous glands (Bershad, 2001; Chen et al, 2021; Zhu et al, 2021). There are few reports on the use of natural products to treat acne. The natural product licorice flavonoids (LCF) extracted from glycyrrhiza is a promising drug for treating acne. There are related literature reports that licorice LCF can inhibit the growth of Cutibacterium acnes, Candida albicans, and Staphylococcus aureus (Dai et al, 2013; Kim et al, 2013). Direct evidence of LCF regulation of skin metabolism, serum metabolism and anti-acne of the skin microbes is still lacking

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion