Tropical Journal of Pharmaceutical Research

Original Research Article | OPEN ACCESS

Protective effect of total flavonoids from boxthorn leaf against UVB irradiation-induced skin injury

Qing Yu¹ , Ying Shen², Yadan Gan¹, Liang Zheng³

¹Dermatological Department, YuYao People's Hospital; ²Dermatological Department, The Second Affiliated Hospital of Zhejiang University School of Medicine; ³Department of Pharmacy, YuYao People's Hospital, Zhejiang, China.

For correspondence:- Qing Yu Email: j92lhe@163.com

Accepted: 23 August 2019 Published: 30 September 2019

Citation: Yu Q, Shen Y, Gan Y, Zheng L. Protective effect of total flavonoids from boxthorn leaf against UVB irradiation-induced skin injury. Trop J Pharm Res 2019; 18(9):1943-1947 doi: 10.4314/tjpr.v18i9.23

© 2019 The authors.
This is an Open Access article that uses a funding model which does not charge readers or their institutions for access and distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0) and the Budapest Open Access Initiative (http://www.budapestopenaccessinitiative.org/read), which permit unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly credited..

Abstract

Purpose: To investigate the protective effect of total flavonoids from boxthorn leaf against skin injury induced by UVB irradiation, and to elucidate the underlying mechanism of action.

Method: Healthy female mice (n = 100) were randomly divided into four groups: normal control group, UV negative control group, cream base group, and boxthorn leaf total flavonoid (BLTF) group, with 25 mice in each group. The mice in each group were irradiated with ultraviolet B (UVB) irradiation instrument for 1.5 h daily for 3 weeks. Mice in the cream base group were smeared with cream base on their backs, while mice in BLTF group were smeared with 15 mg/g boxthorn BLTF cream. The control and negative control group mice were not treated. Changes in superoxide dismutase (SOD), malondialdehyde (MDA) and glutathione peroxidase (GSH-Px) levels were determined using standard methods.

Results: Compared to the negative control group, the levels of SOD and GSH-Px in the control group and BLTF were significantly elevated, while MDA levels declined significantly (p < 0.05). Although higher GSH-Px and SOD levels, and lower MDA were seen in the cream base group than in negative control group, these indices were comparable for the two groups (p > 0.05).

Conclusion: The total flavonoids of boxthorn leaves improve resistance to UVB-induced skin damage by regulating SOD, MDA and GSH-Px levels in the skin of mice. Thus, they exert protective effects on the skin.

Keywords: Boxthorn leaf total flavonoids, Ultraviolet B, Skin injury, Protection, Mechanism