Herbal Medicine Resources Research Center, Korea Institute of Oriental Medicine, 111 Geonjae-ro, Naju-si 58245, Republic of Korea.
Oxid Med Cell Longev. 2021 Jan 13;2021:8878153. doi: 10.1155/2021/8878153. eCollection 2021.
Atopic dermatitis (AD) is a multifactorial inflammatory skin disease of complex etiology. Despite its increasing prevalence, treatment for AD is still limited. Crude drugs, including herbal extracts or natural resources, are being used to treat AD symptoms, with minimum side effects. Cicadidae Periostracum (CP), derived from the slough of insects belonging to the family Cicadidae, is a commonly used crude drug in traditional Asian medicine to treat/control epilepsy, shock, and edema. However, the effect of CP on AD-like skin lesions is unknown. In this study, we examined the effect of a CP water extract on AD disease development , using a house dust mite-induced AD mouse model, and , using HaCaT keratinocytes and a 3D human skin equivalent system. Importantly, CP administration alleviated house dust mite-induced AD-like symptoms, suggested by the quantified dermatitis scores, animal scratching behaviors, skin moisture retention capacity, and skin lesion and ear thickness. Furthermore, histopathological analysis demonstrated that CP decreased intralesional mast cell infiltration. In addition, CP treatments decreased the systemic levels of immunoglobulin E, histamine, and thymic stromal lymphopoietin (TSLP) and the local mRNA expression of TSLP and several Th1/Th2 cytokines. Our data suggest that these effects were mediated by the inhibition of nucleotide-binding oligomerization domain-like receptor protein 3 (NLRP3) inflammasome activation. and CP treatments resulted in the downregulation of inflammasome components, such as ASC and cleaved caspase-1, as well as related mediators such as IL-1 and reactive oxygen species. Collectively, our results suggest that CP is a potential therapeutic agent for AD, controlling inflammatory responses through the suppression of NLRP3 inflammasome activation.
特应性皮炎（AD）是一种多因素炎症性皮肤疾病，其病因复杂。尽管 AD 的患病率不断增加，但目前的治疗方法仍然有限。粗提药物，包括草药提取物或天然资源，正被用于治疗 AD 症状，且副作用最小。蝉蜕是一种常见的传统亚洲药物中的粗药，用于治疗/控制癫痫、休克和水肿。然而，蝉蜕对 AD 样皮肤损伤的影响尚不清楚。在这项研究中，我们使用屋尘螨诱导的 AD 小鼠模型和 HaCaT 角质形成细胞以及 3D 人皮肤等效物系统，研究了蝉蜕水提取物对 AD 疾病发展的影响。重要的是，蝉蜕给药减轻了屋尘螨诱导的 AD 样症状，这表现在量化的皮炎评分、动物搔抓行为、皮肤水分保持能力以及皮肤损伤和耳朵厚度上。此外，组织病理学分析表明，蝉蜕减少了真皮内肥大细胞浸润。此外，蝉蜕治疗降低了血清免疫球蛋白 E、组胺和胸腺基质淋巴细胞生成素（TSLP）水平以及 TSLP 和几种 Th1/Th2 细胞因子的局部 mRNA 表达。我们的数据表明，这些作用是通过抑制核苷酸结合寡聚化结构域样受体蛋白 3（NLRP3）炎症小体激活来介导的。蝉蜕治疗导致炎症小体成分（如 ASC 和裂解的 caspase-1）以及相关介质（如白细胞介素 1 和活性氧）的下调。总之，我们的结果表明，蝉蜕是 AD 的一种潜在治疗药物，通过抑制 NLRP3 炎症小体激活来控制炎症反应。
