Suitability of macrophage inflammatory protein-1beta production by THP-1 cells in differentiating skin sensitizers from irritant chemicals.

Background: Worldwide restrictions in animal use for research have driven efforts to develop alternative methods.

Objective: The study aimed to test the efficacy of the macrophage inflammatory protein-1beta (MIP-1beta) assay for testing chemicals' skin-sensitizing capacity.

Methods: The assay was performed using 9 chemicals judged to be sensitizing and 7 non-sensitizing by the standard in vivo assays.

The effects of Musk T on peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor [PPAR]-alpha activation, epidermal skin homeostasis and dermal hyaluronic acid synthesis.

Peroxisome proliferators activated receptors (PPARs) are a family of nuclear hormone receptors that heterodimer with the retinoid X receptor and function as transcriptional regulators of genes. Topically Applied PPAR-alpha agonists possess receptor mediated, pro-differentiating/anti-proliferative effects, lipid metabolism stimulation, and anti-inflammatory activity, which suggest that they could be beneficial for the treatment of a variety of cutaneous diseases. Hyaluronan (HA), a high-molecular-weight linear glycosaminoglycan consisting of alternating D: -glucuronic acid and N-acetyl-D: -glucosamine residues, is one of the major extracellular matrix components in skin.

Expression of vanilloid receptor 1 in cultured fibroblast.

Although the vanilloid receptor 1 (VR1) was originally discovered on primary sensory neurons, its broad tissue expression in non-neuronal cells has been reported on. Recently, VR1 expression was clearly demonstrated in a variety of cutaneous components, such as keratinocytes, glandular epithelium, mast cells and sebocytes, except for melanocytes and fibroblasts. However, we demonstrated the VR1 expression in the cultured human skin fibroblasts as follows.