Human skin explants
The first investigations refer to the biological activity of an aqueous solution containing the extract (at 1%) on human skin explants maintained alive. The study was performed in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki after the patient had given informed consent. The explants were obtained as full thickness human skin biopsies from an abdominoplasty of a 58-year-old Caucasian woman. Punch biopsies removed from the patient were immediately sent to Laboratoire BIO-EC (Longjumeau, France), where the hypodermis was removed from the skin and circular samples were excised using a punch instrument. The samples, with the dermis face down, were immediately placed in a liquid–air interface in Laboratoire BIO-EC’s Explant Medium (BEM®) and cultured under classical cell-culture conditions (37°C in 5% CO2), and half of the medium (1 mL) was refreshed every other day.
Several parameters have been evaluated, such as the ultraviolet light (UV)-induced photodimerization of thymine, the expression of the proinflammatory cytokine interleukin (IL)1-α, the free-radical scavenging properties by quantification of the biomarker of oxidative stress malondialdehyde (MDA),10,11 as well as the antiglycation activity.10,12 The general cells’ morphology was also evaluated prior to all other instrumental observations. Statistical significance is assigned by the Student’s t-test.