Botanical Briefs: Neem Oil (Azadirachta indica).

Azadirachta indica, commonly known as neem, has many uses as a natural remedy. We review and discuss the pharmacologic, biologic, and medicinal properties of neem in disease management. We also report a rare clinical case of a 77-year-old man who presented with a hypopigmented rash on the lower back, bilateral flanks, and buttocks after 6 months of repeated application of neem oil to treat persistent arthritis and lower back pain.

Heme oxygenase-1 expression protects melanocytes from stress-induced cell death: implications for vitiligo.

To study protection of melanocytes from stress-induced cell death by heme oxygenases during depigmentation and repigmentation in vitiligo, expression of isoforms 1 and 2 was studied in cultured control and patient melanocytes and normal skin explants exposed to UV or bleaching agent 4-TBP. Similarly, expression of heme oxygenases was followed in skin from vitiligo patients before and after PUVA treatment. Single and double immunostainings were used in combination with light and confocal microscopic analysis and Western blotting. Melanocyte expression of heme oxygenase 1 is upregulated, whereas heme oxygenase 2 is reduced in response to UV and 4-TBP. Upregulation of inducible heme oxygenase 1 was also observed in UV-treated explant cultures, in skin of successfully PUVA-treated patients and in melanocytes cultured from vitiligo non-lesional skin. Heme oxygenase encoding genes were subsequently cloned to study consequences of either gene product on cell viability, demonstrating that HO-1 but not HO-2 overexpression offers protection from stress-induced cell death in MTT assays. HO-1 expression by melanocytes may contribute to beneficial effects of UV treatment for vitiligo patients.