Planta Med 2013; 79 - PC11
DOI: 10.1055/s-0033-1352005

In vitro determination of the skin anti-aging potential of eleven South African plants

GN Ndlovu 1, G Fouche 1, W Cordier 2, V Steenkamp 2, M Tselanyane 3
  • 1Council for Scientific and Industrial Research, Biosciences Unit, Natural Products Chemistry Group, Pretoria, 0001, South Africa
  • 2University of Pretoria, Department of Pharmacology, Phytomedicine Unit, Pretoria, 0001, South Africa
  • 3Council for Scientific and Industrial Research, Biosciences Unit, Molecular and Biomedical Technologies, Pretoria, 0001, South Africa

Aging is an inevitable process for all living organisms. In humans, the skin is the most affected tissue. Degradation of the extra cellular matrix leads to an increase in activity of certain dermal enzymes involved in skin-aging including hyaluronidase, elastase and collagenase enzymes directly linked to skin aging. Reactive oxygen species play an important role in many cellular mechanisms including premature skin aging. Skin aging is separable into two forms, chronological aging and photoaging. South Africans are affected by both types because of the harsh sun they are exposed to throughout the year. Small molecules from natural sources have a highly successful track record as pharmaceuticals. The aim of this project is therefore to discover and develop plant-derived small molecules with potential as new and/or improved cosmetic agents. The hyaluronidase, elastase and collagenase inhibition assays were used to assess the skin anti-aging potential of the ethyl acetate and methanol plant extracts. The ABTS-free radical scavenging assay was used to assess the antioxidant activity of the studied plants. Seven extracts showed collagenase inhibitory activity higher (91.21 – 84.70%) than the positive control (EDTA), sixteen showed more than 80% inhibitory activity in the elastase assay with three showing activity comparable to the positive controls elafin (93.09 ± 4.1%) and N-Methoxysuccinyl-Ala-Ala-Pro-Chrolo (91.54 ± 4.1%) and only four extracts showed a percentage inhibition of more than 40% in the hyaluronidase assay. In the antioxidant assay, 10 samples showed good antioxidant activity with an IC50 range of 1.99 to 9.45 µg/mL with two of these having a Trolox equivalence of above 0.4. Phytochemical investigation of highly active extracts is underway. The isolated compounds will also be tested in the same biological assays. These preliminary results show that South African plants have an important role to play in the development of naturally derived anti-aging agents.