Volume 46, Issue 12 e14482
ORIGINAL ARTICLE

Protective effects of volatile components of aged garlic extract against ultraviolet B-induced apoptosis in human skin fibroblasts

Kazuki Abe

Kazuki Abe

Department of Food, Aroma and Cosmetic Chemistry, Faculty of Bioindustry, Tokyo University of Agriculture, Abashiri City, Japan

Healthcare Research and Development Division, Wakunaga Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd., Akitakata, Hiroshima, Japan

Contribution: Conceptualization, Data curation, Formal analysis, ​Investigation, Methodology, Resources, Validation, Writing - original draft

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Kumiko Yamamoto

Kumiko Yamamoto

Department of Food, Aroma and Cosmetic Chemistry, Faculty of Bioindustry, Tokyo University of Agriculture, Abashiri City, Japan

Contribution: Data curation, Formal analysis, ​Investigation, Methodology

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Takao Myoda

Takao Myoda

Department of Food, Aroma and Cosmetic Chemistry, Faculty of Bioindustry, Tokyo University of Agriculture, Abashiri City, Japan

Contribution: Conceptualization, Methodology, Project administration, Writing - review & editing

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Takuto Fujii

Takuto Fujii

Healthcare Research and Development Division, Wakunaga Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd., Akitakata, Hiroshima, Japan

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Koichi Niwa

Corresponding Author

Koichi Niwa

Department of Food, Aroma and Cosmetic Chemistry, Faculty of Bioindustry, Tokyo University of Agriculture, Abashiri City, Japan

Correspondence

Koichi Niwa, Department of Food, Aroma and Cosmetic Chemistry, Faculty of Bioindustry, Tokyo University of Agriculture, 196 Yasaka Abashiri City Hokkaido 099-2493, Japan.

Email: [email protected]

Contribution: Conceptualization, Data curation, Formal analysis, ​Investigation, Methodology, Supervision, Validation, Writing - review & editing

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First published: 11 October 2022

Abstract

Aged garlic extract (AGE) has been shown to protect the skin against UV-induced damage, but effects of its volatile components remain unknown. We investigated the effects of the volatile fraction of AGE on the responses of cultured skin fibroblasts subjected to UV-B irradiation. UV-B irradiation (20 mJ/cm2) reduced the cell viability to 55% of control. The nonvolatile and volatile fractions of AGE inhibited the UV-B-induced reduction of cell viability; the cell viabilities were 100% and 73%, respectively. The volatile fraction inhibited the UV-B-induced increase in apoptotic cell death by 28%. The volatile fraction also inhibited the phosphorylation of mitogen-activated protein kinases (MAPKs) induced by UV-B irradiation. GC–MS analysis revealed that a large number of volatile compounds were generated during aging of garlic. These results suggest that the volatile fraction of AGE has protective effects against the UV-B-induced death of skin fibroblasts, and that this effect may partly be due to an inhibition of apoptosis via the downregulation of MAPK signaling. The volatile compounds of AGE may have beneficial applications for skin health.

Practical applications

In this study, we investigated the effects of AGE against cell damage of UV-B-irradiated human skin fibroblasts. The aging process of garlic produced characteristic volatile compounds that have significant protective effects against UV-induced cell damage. Our results demonstrated that the aging process is a suitable method to develop added value in garlic extracts to improve skin health.

CONFLICT OF INTEREST

There is no conflict of interest to declare.

DATA AVAILABILITY STATEMENT

The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.

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