A
French maritime pine bark extract,
Flavangenol, is widely used as a nutritional supplement for protection against
atherosclerosis,
hypertension, diabetes, etc. Chronic exposure to solar UV radiation damages skin, increasing cutaneous thickness, wrinkling and pigmentation, as well as reducing elasticity, and causes
skin cancer. The aim of this study was to examine the effects of
flavangenol on skin damage and the incidence of skin
tumors caused by long-term UVB irradiation in
melanin-possessing hairless mice. The
oral administration of
flavangenol (60, 200 or 600 mg kg(-1), twice daily) significantly inhibited increases in skin thickness, and the formation of wrinkles and
melanin granules, as well as increases in the diameter and length of skin blood vessels. Furthermore, it prevented increases in numbers of apoptotic, Ki-67-positive and
8-hydroxy-2'-deoxyguanosine (8-OHdG)-positive cells, and the expression of skin
vascular endothelial growth factor (
VEGF) induced by chronic UVB irradiation. The effect on these
biomarkers was associated with a reduction in the incidence of
tumors in mice. The antiphotoaging and anticarcinogenetic activities of
flavangenol may be due to inhibition of the expression of Ki-67, 8-OHdG and
VEGF through a scavenging effect on
reactive oxygen species.