Anti-inflammatory activity of Juniper (Juniperus communis) berry essential oil in human dermal fibroblasts

Abstract

Although juniper (Juniperus communis) berry essential oil (JEO) has been used in skin care products, research on its biological activity in human skin cells is scarce. In the current study, we explored the biological activity of JEO (with alpha-pinene as the major active component) in pre-inflamed human dermal fibroblasts, which were designed to mimic the disease biology of chronic inflammation and fibrosis. We analyzed the levels of 17 important protein biomarkers pertinent to inflammation and tissue remodeling. JEO exhibited robust antiproliferative activity and significantly inhibited the increased production of the proinflammatory chemokines interferon gamma-induced protein 10 (IP-10) and interferon-inducible T-cell alpha chemoattractant (I-TAC). Additionally, JEO significantly inhibited tissue remodeling biomarkers, namely collagen I, collagen III, and plasminogen activator inhibitor 1 (PAI-I). Macrophage colony-stimulating factor (M-CSF), an immunomodulatory protein molecule, was also significantly downregulated by JEO. Moreover, we found that JEO robustly modulated global gene expression. Ingenuity Pathway Analysis also showed that JEO affected many important signaling pathways that are closely related to metabolism, inflammation, immune response, wound healing, and cancer biology. This study provides the first evidence of the biological activity of JEO in human dermal fibroblasts. Thus, JEO is a promising therapeutic candidate for inflammatory conditions in the skin.

Keywords

• juniperus communis
• juniper berry essential oil
• alpha-pinene
• inflammation
• cancer
• tissue remodeling
• metabolism
• ip-10, interferon gamma-induced protein 10
• m-csf, macrophage colony-stimulating factor
• collagen iii