Assessment of Damnacanthus major Siebold & Zucc callus for antioxidative and moisturizing capacities using an artificial skin alternative

Plants contain many useful substances; however, their availability and uniformity are constrained. Controlled cell culture is attracting attention as a method for identifying useful substances with better quality control than conventional plant extraction techniques. Artificial skin is widely used as an alternative to animal testing to evaluate the safety and efficacy of cosmetic materials. The Damnacanthus major Siebold & Zucc is an evergreen shrub of the madder family, and the anthraquinone series substances present in its roots have antioxidant and whitening effects, implying its potential to be used in cosmetics. In this study, the antioxidant, moisturizing, and phototoxic properties of the ethanol extract of its callus were assessed using an artificial skin alternative. It showed a distinct antioxidant effect over 600 μg/mL and a moisturizing effect over 125 μg/mL. Phospho-extracellular signal-regulated kinase 1/2 and cAMP response element-binding protein were found to be upregulated in the artificial skin due to the moisturizing mechanism, and phospho-NFκB repressing factor was observed to be upregulated in human epidermal keratinocytes (HaCaT cells) due to the antioxidant mechanism. Additionally, analysis of the artificial skin revealed no phototoxicity up to 1 mg/mL. The results of this study demonstrate that the ethanol extract of Damnacanthus major Siebold & Zucc can be used as a cosmetic material.