Protection of the flowers of Prunus persica extract from ultraviolet B-induced damage of normal human keratinocytes

For an at-tempt to develop safe materials protecting solar ultraviolet (UV) -induced skin damage, plant extracts were evaluated for their inhibitory ac tivities of free radical generation and arachidonic acid/metabolites releas e from UVB-irradiated normal human keratinocytes. From the results of these screening procedures, the ethanol extract of the flowers of Prunus persica (Ku-35) was selected for further study. It was found that Ku-35 (100-1,000 mu g/ml) inhibited the amount of C-14 arachidonic acid/metabolites release from UVB-irradiated keratinocytes. It was also demonstrated that Ku-35 pos sessed the protective activity against UV-induced cytotoxicity of keratinoc ytes and fibroblasts. In addition, Ku-35 was revealed to protect UVB-induce d erythema formation using guinea pigs in preliminary in vivo study. All th ese results indicate that the flowers of P. persica extract may be benefici al for protecting UV-induced skin damage when topically applied.