Abstract
It has been demonstrated that zinc exerts its beneficial influence on skin fibroblasts. Propolis, a complex mixture of plant-derived and bees’ products, was reported to stimulate cicatrization processes in skin and prevent infections. The aim of this study was to find out how zinc and propolis influence human skin fibroblasts in cell culture and to compare the effect of individual compounds to the effect of a mixture of zinc and propolis. In this study, zinc, as zinc aspartate, at a concentration of 16 μM, increased human fibroblasts proliferation in cell culture, whereas propolis at a concentration of 0.01 % (w/v) revealed antiproliferative and cytotoxic action followed by mild cell necrosis. In culture, zinc was effectively transported into fibroblasts, and propolis inhibited the amount of zinc incorporated into the cells. An addition of propolis to the medium caused a decrease in the Zn(II) amount incorporated into fibroblasts. The obtained results also indicate an appreciable antioxidant property of propolis and revealed its potential as a supplement when applied at doses lower than 0.01 % (w/v). In conclusion, the present study showed that zinc had a protective effect on human cultured fibroblasts’ viability, although propolis revealed its antiproliferative action and caused mild necrosis.
Highlights
Skin tissue protects the organism against pathogens and other external damaging factors
The present study aims to (i) measure the concentration of zinc in cells after incubation without/with propolis and evaluate the possible influence of zinc transport into cells by propolis; (ii) estimate if zinc and/or propolis at established doses have any effect on the vitality of normal human skin fibroblasts; (iii) determine the antioxidant potential of propolis; and (iv) point out the aspects of the simultaneous use of both substances, zinc and propolis, in the cell culture of fibroblasts
The results show that Zn(II) concentration in the Zn group was significantly higher than that in the control (p
Summary
Skin tissue protects the organism against pathogens and other external damaging factors. The proper functioning of this organ involves dynamic processes that, in turn, enable precise and accurate responses to environmental stimuli [1]. The dermal reconstruction after skin wounds depends on the effective coordination of all kinds of skin cell action, fibroblasts’ migration, and the precise regulation of inflammatory processes [2, 3]. It has been indicated that zinc exerts its beneficial effect during wound healing [4,5,6]. Zinc takes part in the complex regulation of the sequence of signal molecules and mediators such as cytokines and growth factors, which enable tissue regeneration [4, 7]. The skin’s ability to regenerate depends on biochemical processes regulated by zinc and, unbalanced homeostasis of this element affects basic cell functions. It was reported that in fibroblasts, zinc contributes to the decrease of reactive oxygen species’ (ROS) formation, since zinc metallothioneines (MTs) and ZnCu superoxide dismutase (SOD) neutralize highly reactive
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