Smart Nanofibers with Natural Extracts Prevent Senescence Patterning in a Dynamic Cell Culture Model of Human Skin
Emanuela Bellu, Giuseppe Garroni, Sara Cruciani, Francesca Balzano, Diletta Serra, Rosanna Satta, Maria Antonietta Montesu, Angela Fadda, Maurizio Mulas, Giorgia Sarais, Pasquale Bandiera, Elena Torreggiani, Fernanda Martini, Mauro Tognon, Carlo Ventura, Jiří Beznoska, Evžen Amler, Margherita Maioli
Abstract
Natural cosmetic products have recently re-emerged as a novel tool able to counteract skin aging and skin related damages. In addition, recently achieved progress in nanomedicine opens a novel approach yielding from combination of modern nanotechnology with traditional treatment for innovative pharmacotherapeutics. In the present study, we investigated the antiaging effect of a pretreatment with Myrtus communis natural extract combined with a polycaprolactone nanofibrous scaffold (NanoPCL-M) on skin cell populations exposed to UV. We set up a novel model of skin on a bioreactor mimicking a crosstalk between keratinocytes, stem cells and fibroblasts, as in skin. Beta-galactosidase assay, indicating the amount of senescent cells, and viability assay, revealed that fibroblasts and stem cells pretreated with NanoPCL-M and then exposed to UV are superimposable to control cells, untreated and unexposed to UV damage. On the other hand, cells only exposed to UV stress, without NanoPCL-M pretreatment, exhibited a significantly higher yield of senescent elements. Keratinocyte-based 3D structures appeared disjointed after UV-stress, as compared to NanoPCL-M pretreated samples. Gene expression analysis performed on different senescence associated genes, revealed the activation of a molecular program of rejuvenation in stem cells pretreated with NanoPCL-M and then exposed to UV. Altogether, our results highlight a future translational application of NanoPCL-M to prevent skin aging.