RESUMO
Methylene blue (MB) is a century-old medicine, a laboratory dye, and recently shown as a premier antioxidant that combats ROS-induced cellular aging in human skins. Given MB's molecular structure and light absorption properties, we hypothesize that MB has the potential to be considered as a sunscreen active for UV radiation protection. In this study, we tested the effects of MB on UVB ray-induced DNA double-strand breaks in primary human keratinocytes. We found that MB treatment reduced DNA damages caused by UVB irradiation and subsequent cell death. Next, we compared MB with Oxybenzone, which is the most commonly used chemical active ingredient in sunscreens but recently proven to be hazardous to aquatic ecosystems, in particular to coral reefs. At the same concentrations, MB showed more effective UVB absorption ability than Oxybenzone and significantly outperformed Oxybenzone in the prevention of UVB-induced DNA damage and the clearance of UVA-induced cellular ROS. Furthermore, unlike Oxybenzone, MB-containing seawater did not affect the growth of the coral species Xenia umbellata. Altogether, our study suggests that MB has the potential to be a coral reef-friendly sunscreen active ingredient that can provide broad-spectrum protection against UVA and UVB.
Assuntos
Envelhecimento/efeitos dos fármacos , Antozoários/efeitos dos fármacos , Azul de Metileno/farmacologia , Pele/efeitos dos fármacos , Envelhecimento/patologia , Envelhecimento/efeitos da radiação , Animais , Antioxidantes/farmacologia , Benzofenonas/efeitos adversos , Recifes de Corais , Quebras de DNA de Cadeia Dupla/efeitos dos fármacos , Quebras de DNA de Cadeia Dupla/efeitos da radiação , Dano ao DNA/efeitos dos fármacos , Dano ao DNA/efeitos da radiação , Ecossistema , Humanos , Queratinócitos/efeitos dos fármacos , Queratinócitos/efeitos da radiação , Luz/efeitos adversos , Azul de Metileno/química , Proteção Radiológica , Pele/efeitos da radiação , Protetores Solares/efeitos adversos , Raios Ultravioleta/efeitos adversosRESUMO
An in situ microfluidic assembly approach is described that can both produce microsized building blocks and assemble them into complex multiparticle configurations in the same microfluidic device. The building blocks are microparticles of the biopolymer chitosan, which is intentionally selected because its chemistry allows for simultaneous intraparticle and interparticle linking. Monodisperse chitosan-bearing droplets are created by shearing off a chitosan solution at a microfluidic T-junction with a stream of hexadecane containing a nonionic detergent. These droplets are then interfacially crosslinked into stable microparticles by a downstream flow of glutaraldehyde (GA). The functional properties of these robust microparticles can be easily varied by introducing various payloads, such as magnetic nanoparticles and/or fluorescent dyes, into the chitosan solution. The on-chip connection of such individual particles into well-defined microchains is demonstrated using GA again as the chemical "glue" and microchannel confinement as the spatial template. Chain flexibility can be tuned by adjusting the crosslinking conditions: both rigid chains and semiflexible chains are created. Additionally, the arrangement of particles within a chain can also be controlled, for example, to generate chains with alternating fluorescent and nonfluorescent microparticles. Such microassembled chains could find applications as microfluidic mixers, delivery vehicles, microscale sensors, or miniature biomimetic robots.