Potential Skin Anti‐Aging Effects of Korean Medicinal Plant Extracts

Abstract

The development of a variety of human diseases is related to aging. During the aging process, a normal homeostatic condition of biological systems including free radicals, antioxidants and biomolecules, becomes disrupted, promoting the accumulation of oxidants that cause deterioration of vital cellular functions. Thus, alternative methods in delaying the signs of aging, such as functional food supplementation, have emerged in the past few decades. In previous research studies, antioxidants have been reported to stimulate the expression of the genes that regulate essential antioxidant signaling pathways. As part of the global continuous effort to inhibit the rate of skin aging, we screened various Korean traditional medicinal plant extracts by examining the effect on the cellular defense key transcription factors, particularly nuclear factor erythroid 2 (NF‐E2)‐related factor 2 (Nrf2), NAD(P)H:quinone oxidoreductase 1 (NQO1), and heme oxygenase 1 (HO‐1). Interestingly, two of the plant extracts screened, Inula japonica Thunberg (dogyeong) and Carpeslum abrotanoides Linne (hakseul), resulted in enhanced antioxidant gene expression in mouse hepatoma Hepa1c1c7 and human keratinocyte HaCaT cells as measured by Western blot and were found to provide strong beneficial effect against skin aging. Additionally, we evaluated the effect of the plant extracts on transcriptional activity of Nrf2 using a cell line stably transfected with antioxidant response element (ARE) and reporter luciferase gene. We also demonstrated that the non‐toxic administration of dogyeong and hakseul had notable skin anti‐aging effect in animal model, thereby warranting further clinical efficacy study.Support or Funding InformationThis study was funded by BK21 Plus Program