Anti-aging and anti-inflammation effects of natural mineral extract on skin keratinocytes

In this study, we investigated the effects of a natural mineral extract on damaged skin keratinocytes. We have focused on the possible effects of the natural mineral extract on UV-irradiated normal human skin keratinocytes. Human keratinocytes were UV-irradiated and were treated with 0.1, 1.0, or 10% of natural mineral extract. Study controls included non-UV-irradiated cells, UV-irradiated cells (no extract), and UV-irradiated cells treated with 25 nM ascorbic acid. Cell viability following UV irradiation was significantly higher in the groups treated with the natural mineral extract at doses of 0.1, 1.0, and 10% than in the control group with UV irradiation only. The UV-irradiated cells demonstrated increased secretion of laminin relative to non-irradiated controls. We found that treating these UV-irradiated keratinocytes with natural mineral extract reduced vacuole size and number, and it dose-dependently increased laminin secretion and reduced IL-2 synthesis. Also, MMP-1 and MMP-2 activity were significantly less in cells treated with natural mineral extract than in UV-irradiated controls. The UV irradiation reduced MMP-1 levels to 45±5 ng/mL from 130±5 ng/mL. In addition, MMP-2 production in keratinocytes was significantly reduced by 11±1 ng/mL compared to the UV-irradiation control. In conclusion, the results of this work suggest that natural mineral extract has effects on keratinocytes damaged by UV exposure.