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. 2021 Oct 11;13(4):556-564.
doi: 10.1016/j.chmed.2021.10.006. eCollection 2021 Oct.

Qualitative and quantitative analysis of Arnebiae Radix and Dictamni Cortex and efficacy study of herbal extracts on allergic contact dermatitis using 3D human reconstructed epidermis

Huan Li  1 , Esther Lim  1 , Gladys Ang  1 , Zhi-Qing Lim  1 , Martin Hui Cai  1 , Jo-Anne Loh  1   2 , Celine Ng  1 , Peijia Seetoh  1 , Edmund Tian  1 , Lay Beng Goh  1   2
Affiliations

Qualitative and quantitative analysis of Arnebiae Radix and Dictamni Cortex and efficacy study of herbal extracts on allergic contact dermatitis using 3D human reconstructed epidermis

Huan Li et al. Chin Herb Med. .

Abstract

Objective: To evaluate the quality of Arnebiae Radix (AR) and Dictamni Cortex (DC) and study the efficacy of herbal extracts of these two herbs on the treatment of allergic contact dermatitis (ACD).

Methods: Qualitative and quantitative analysis of effective components was performed using High Performance Thin Layer Chromatography (HPTLC), High Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC), and HPLC-Quadrupole Time of Flight-Mass Spectrometry (HPLC-QTOF-MS). In vitro allergic ACD 3D model was established by incubating 3D reconstructed human epidermis (RHE) with skin sensitizer, potassium dichromate. A total of 65 gene expression that were associated with ACD, which included 24 antioxidant responsive element (ARE) and 41 SENS-IS genes were quantified by qRT-PCR. More than or equal to 10 ARE genes and 18 SENN-IS genes were induced by 1.3-fold, demonstrating the successful establishment of in vitro ACD model. Oil extracts of AR and DC were applied on the in vitro ACD model to study the efficacy.

Results: Batch 3 of AR and batch 2 of DC showed presence of all active ingredients with the highest concentrations. Active ingredients of the herbs were extracted using a special oil and formulated into herbal oil extracts. The herbal oil extracts were able to down regulate the induced genes in the in-vitro ACD skin model, bringing the tissue back to homeostatic status.

Conclusion: The oil extracts showed the potent efficacy of using AR and DC in ACD treatment. The combination study will be done to optimize the formulation ratio which will be developed into a topical cream.

Keywords: 3D reconstructed epidermis; Arnebiae Radix; Chinese medicine; Dictamni Cortex; allergic contact dermatitis; quality control.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Schematic illustration of project workflow of this project.
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
HPTLC chromatogram of β-acetoxyisovalerylalkannin and AR (A) standards and DC (B).
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
HPLC fingerprinting of five reference standards and AR (batch 3).
Fig. 4
Fig. 4
HPLC fingerprinting of (A) dictamine reference standard and DC (batch 2),  (B)  fraxinellone reference and standard DC (batch 2),  (C) obacunone reference standard and DC (batch 2).
Fig. 5
Fig. 5
HPLTC chromatogram of extracted AR in herbal oil (A) and extracted DC in herbal oil (B).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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