Planta Med 2007; 73 - P_601
DOI: 10.1055/s-2007-987381

Reed mace (Typha latifolia L., Typhaceae) seed polysaccharides exert differing effects on human skin fibroblasts and keratinocytes

K Gescher 1, AM Deters 1
  • 1Institute for Pharmaceutical Biology and Phytochemistry, Westfalian Wilhelms University of Muenster, Hittorfstr. 56, 48149 Muenster, Germany

In North America Typha latifolia L., Typhaceae, is used for more than 4000 years for treatment of skin disorders, burns and diarrhoea. The whole plant exhibits high carbohydrate content so it was interesting to investigate effects of the seed and seed hair polysaccharide on the main skin cells.

Polysaccharides were obtained by an ethanolic precipitation of a water-extract. The dialyzed and lyophilized crude polysaccharide was fractionated by AEC in one neutral and three acidic polysaccharides. Human primary keratinocytes and fibroblasts as well as HaCaT-keratinocytes were treated with 10µg/ml crude polysaccharide and AEC-fractions to determine their influence on cell viability (MTT-test), necrosis (determination of LDH) and proliferation (BrdU-assay). The differentiation behaviour of primary keratinocytes was determined by the keratin and involucrin expression. At least qRT-PCR was carried out to investigate the expression of proliferation and differentiation specific genes.

The crude polysaccharide containing little amounts of polyphenols reduced proliferation of keratinocytes and fibroblasts significantly. The AEC fractions affected the cell physiology in distinct ways relating to the treated cells:

A 10µg/ml concentration of neutral and slight acid fractions stimulated the keratinocyte but not the fibroblasts proliferation. The results were supported by the differential gene expression analysis by the reason that genes for EGFR, FGFR2, InsR und STAT6 were up regulated. The keratin and involucrin content as markers of keratinocyte differentiation arises significantly in primary keratinocytes treated with polysaccharide fractions and to a lesser extend after incubation with the raw polysaccharide. These results also coincide with the expressions of differentiation specific gene SMAD3.

The results show that the activity of polysaccharides depends on their composition, the effect is down to the used cell system. The observed modified cell physiology attributes to the observed changes in gene expression after treatment of cells with plant polysaccharides.