Abstract

Objectives: Myrrh have been used as a traditional remedy to treat infectious and inflammatory diseases. However, it is largely unknown whether myrrh ethanol extract could exhibit the inhibitory activities against particulate matter (PM)-induced skin injury on human keratinocytes, HaCaT cells. Therefore, this study was aimed to investigate the inhibitory activity of myrrh ethanol extract on PM-induced skin injury in HaCaT cells. Methods: To investigate the inhibitory effects of myrrh ethanol extract in HaCaT cells, the skin injury model of HaCaT cells was established under PM treatment. HaCaT keratinocyte cells were pre-treated with myrrh ethanol extract for 1 h, and then stimulated with PM. Then, the cells were harvested to measure the cell viability, reactive oxygen species (ROS), pro-inflammatory cytokines including interleukin (IL) 1-beta, IL-6, and tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α, hyaluronidase, collagen, MMPs. In addition, we examined the mitogen activated protein kinases (MAPKs) and inhibitory kappa B alpha (Iκ-Bα) as inhibitory mechanisms of myrrh ethanol extract. Resuslts: The treatment of myrrh ethanol extract inhibited the PM-induced cell death and ROS production in HaCaT cells. In addition, myrrh ethanol extract treatment inhibited the PM-induced elevation of IL-1beta, IL-6, and TNF-α. Also, myrrh ethanol extract treatment inhibited the increase of hyaluronidase, MMP and decrease of collagen. Furthermore, myrrh ethanol extract treatment inhibited the activation of MAPKs and the degradation of Iκ-Bα. Conclusions: Our result suggest that treatment of myrrh ethanol extract could inhibit the PM-induced skin injury via deactivation of MAPKs and nuclear factor (NF)-κB in HaCaT cells. This study could suggest that myrrh ethanol extract could be a beneficial agent to prevent skin damage or inflammation.