RESUMO
Heavy metals can cause several genotoxic effects on cells, including oxidative stress, DNA sequence breakage and protein modification. Among the body organs, skin is certainly the most exposed to heavy metal stress and thus the most damaged by the toxic effects that these chemicals cause. Moreover, heavy metals, in particular nickel, can induce the over-expression of collagenases (enzymes responsible for collagen degradation), leading to weakening of the skin extracellular matrix. Plants have evolved sophisticated mechanisms to protect their cells from heavy metal toxicity, including the synthesis of metal chelating proteins and peptides, such as metallothioneins and phytochelatins (PC), which capture the metals and prevent the damages on the cellular structures. To protect human skin cells from heavy metal toxicity, we developed a new cosmetic active ingredient from Lycopersicon esculentum (tomato) cultured stem cells. This product, besides its high content of antioxidant compounds, contained PC, effective in the protection of skin cells towards heavy metal toxicity. We have demonstrated that this new product preserves nuclear DNA integrity from heavy metal damages, by inducing genes responsible for DNA repair and protection, and neutralizes the effect of heavy metals on collagen degradation, by inhibiting collagenase expression and inducing the synthesis of new collagen.
Assuntos
Antioxidantes/farmacologia , Cosméticos/farmacologia , Metais Pesados/toxicidade , Extratos Vegetais/farmacologia , Pele/efeitos dos fármacos , Solanum lycopersicum/química , Animais , Antioxidantes/isolamento & purificação , Sobrevivência Celular/efeitos dos fármacos , Colágeno/metabolismo , Cosméticos/isolamento & purificação , Queratinócitos/efeitos dos fármacos , Solanum lycopersicum/citologia , Camundongos , Células NIH 3T3 , Fitoquelatinas/farmacologia , Extratos Vegetais/isolamento & purificação , RNA/química , RNA/genética , Reação em Cadeia da Polimerase Via Transcriptase Reversa , Pele/metabolismo , Pele/patologia , Espectrometria de Massas em TandemRESUMO
Small peptides and aminoacid derivatives have been extensively studied for their effect of inducing plant defense responses, and thus increasing plant tolerance to a wide range of abiotic stresses. Similarly to plants, these compounds can activate different signaling pathways in mammalian skin cells as well, leading to the up-regulation of anti-aging specific genes. This suggests the existence of analogous defense response mechanisms, well conserved both in plants and animal cells. In this article, we describe the preparation of a new mixture of peptides and sugars derived from the chemical and enzymatic digestion of plant cell wall glycoproteins. We investigate the multiple roles of this product as potential "biostimulator" to protect plants from abiotic stresses, and also as potential cosmeceutical. In particular, the molecular effects of the peptide/sugar mixture of inducing plant defense responsive genes and protecting cultured skin cells from oxidative burst damages were deeply evaluated.