Skin Sensitization Study of Bee Venom (Apis mellifera L.) in Guinea Pigs

Natural Sources of Therapeutic Agents Used in Skin Conditions

Skin conditions are numerous and often have a major impact on patients' quality of life, and effective and safe treatment is very important. The conventional drugs used for skin diseases are usually corticosteroids and antimicrobial products that can induce various side effects, especially with long-term use, which is why researchers are studying alternatives, especially biologically active natural products. Three products caught our attention: bee venom (BV), due to reported experimental results showing anti-inflammatory, antibacterial, antiviral, antioxidant, antimycotic, and anticancer effects, Ficus carica (FC) due to its demonstrated antioxidant, antibacterial, and anti-inflammatory action, and finally Geranium essential oil (GEO), with proven antifungal, antibacterial, anti-inflammatory, and antioxidant effects. Following a review of the literature, we produced this paper, which presents a review of the potential therapeutic applications of the three products in combating various skin conditions and for skin care, because BV, FC, and GEO have common pharmacological actions (anti-inflammatory, antibacterial, and antioxidant). We also focused on studying the safety of the topical use of BV, FC, and GEO, and new approaches to this. This paper presents the use of these natural therapeutic agents to treat patients with conditions such as vitiligo, melasma, and melanoma, as well as their use in treating dermatological conditions in patients with diabetes.

Cosmetic Applications of Bee Venom

Bee venom (BV) is a typical toxin secreted by stingers of honeybee workers. BV and BV therapy have long been attractive to different cultures, with extensive studies during recent decades. Nowadays, BV is applied to combat several skin diseases, such as atopic dermatitis, acne vulgaris, alopecia, vitiligo, and psoriasis. BV is used extensively in topical preparations as cosmetics and used as dressing for wound healing, as well as in facemasks. Nevertheless, the safety of BV as a therapeutic choice has always been a concern due to the immune system reaction in some people due to BV use. The documented unfavorable impact is explained by the fact that the skin reactions to BV might expand to excessive immunological responses, including anaphylaxis, that typically resolve over numerous days. This review aims to address bee venom therapeutic uses in skin cosmetics.

Optimization of the extraction conditions and dermal toxicity of oil body fused with acidic fibroblast growth factor (OLAF)

INTRODUCTION

Oil body (OB), a subcellular organelle that stores oil in plant seeds, is considered a new transdermal drug delivery system. With the increasing understanding of the OB and its main protein (oleosin), numerous studies have been conducted on OB as "carrier" for the expression of exogenous proteins. In our previous study, oil body fused with aFGF (OLAF) was obtained using a plant oil body expression system that had been preliminarily proven to be effective in accelerating the healing of skin wounds. However, no dermal toxicological information on OLAF is available.

OBJECTIVE

To ensure the dermal safety of OLAF, a series of tests (the acute dermal toxicity test, 21-day repeat dermal toxicity test, dermal irritation test and skin sensitisation test) were conducted after optimising the extraction protocol of OLAF.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

To improve the extraction rate of OLAF, response surface methodology (RSM) was first employed to optimise the extraction conditions. Then, Wistar rats were exposed to OLAF (400 mg·kg^-1 body weight) in two different ways (6 hours/time for 24 hours and 1 time/day for 21 days) to evaluate the acute dermal toxicity and 21-day repeated dermal toxicity of OLAF. In the acute dermal toxicity test, clinical observations were conducted to evaluate the toxicity, behaviour, and health of the animals for 14 consecutive days. Similarly, the clinical signs, body weight, haematological and biochemical parameters, histopathological changes and other indicators were also detected during the 21 days administration. For the dermal irritation test, single and multiple doses of OLAF (125 mg·kg^-1 body weight) were administered to albino rabbits for 14 days (1 time/day). The irritation reaction on the skin of each albino rabbit was recorded and scored. Meanwhile, skin sensitisation to OLAF was conducted using guinea pigs for a period of 28 days.

RESULTS

Suitable extraction conditions for OLAF (PBS concentration 0.01, pH of PBS 8.6, solid-liquid ratio 1:385 g·mL^-1) were obtained using RSM. Under these conditions, the extraction rate and particle size of OLAF were 7.29% and 1290 nm, respectively. In the tests of acute dermal toxicity and 21-day repeated dermal toxicity, no mortality or significant differences were observed in terms of clinical signs, body weight, haematological parameters, biochemical parameters and anatomopathological analysis. With respect to the dermal irritation test and skin sensitisation test, no differences in erythema, oedema or other abnormalities were observed between treatment and control groups on gross and histopathological examinations.

CONCLUSIONS

The results of this study suggest that OLAF does not cause obvious toxicity, skin sensitisation or irritation in animals.

Bee Products in Dermatology and Skin Care

Honey, propolis, bee pollen, bee bread, royal jelly, beeswax and bee venom are natural products which have been used in medicine since ancient times. Nowadays, studies indicate that natural bee products can be used for skin treatment and care. Biological properties of these products are related to flavonoids they contain like: chrysin, apigenin, kaempferol, quercetin, galangin, pinocembrin or naringenin. Several pharmacological activities of phenolic acids and flavonoids, and also 10-hydroxy-trans-2-decenoic acid, which is present in royal jelly, have been reported. Royal jelly has multitude of pharmacological activities: antibiotic, antiinflammatory, antiallergenic, tonic and antiaging. Honey, propolis and pollen are used to heal burn wounds, and they possess numerous functional properties such as: antibacterial, anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, disinfectant, antifungal and antiviral. Beeswax is used for production of cosmetics and ointments in pharmacy. Due to a large number of biological activities, bee products could be considered as important ingredients in medicines and cosmetics applied to skin.

Quantitative structure-activity and quantitative structure-property relationship approaches as alternative skin sensitization risk assessment methods

This study aimed to predict skin sensitization potency of selected chemicals by quantitatively analyzing their physicochemical properties by employing quantitative structure-activity relationship (QSAR) and quantitative structure-property relationship (QSPR) approaches as alternative risk assessment methods to animal testing. Correlations between effective concentration for a stimulation index of 3 (EC3) (%), the amount of a chemical required to elicit a threefold increase in lymph node cell proliferative activity (stimulation index, ≥3), were calculated using local lymph node assay (LLNA) and physicochemical properties of 212 skin sensitizers and 38 non-sensitizers were investigated. The correlation coefficients between melting point (MP) and EC3 and between surface tension (ST) and EC3 were 0.65 and 0.69, respectively. The correlation coefficient for MP + ST and EC3 was estimated to be 0.72. Thus, correlation coefficients between EC3 and MP, ST, and MP + ST reliably predicted the skin sensitization potential of the chemicals with sensitivities of 72% (126/175), 70% (122/174), and 73% (116/158); specificities of 77% (27/35), 69% (22/32), and 81% (26/32); and accuracies of 73% (153/210), 70% (144/206), and 75% (142/190), respectively. Our findings suggest that the EC3 value may be more accurately predicted using the ST values of chemicals as opposed to MP values. Thus, information on MP and ST parameters of chemicals might be useful for predicting the EC3 values as not only an alternative approach to animal testing, but as a risk assessment method for skin sensitization.

Therapeutic effects of bee venom on experimental atopic dermatitis

Atopic dermatitis (AD) is a chronic skin inflammatory disease characterized by recurrent eczema and itching. It is caused by a poorly controlled immune response and damage to the skin barrier. Purified bee venom (BV) is a natural toxin produced by honeybees (Apis mellifera L.), and is well known for its anti-inflammatory, analgesic and anti-cancer effects against various types of disease. However, treatment strategies based on anti-inflammatory properties have not been adequately studied in AD. Thus, the present study examined the progression of AD-like skin lesions induced by ovalbumin (OVA) and the mechanism of action of BV. BV, administered by intraperitoneal inoculation, was observed to reduce the symptoms of AD, in addition to the serum immunoglobulin E levels, according to dorsal skin thickness and histopathologic analysis. The treatment also inhibited the infiltration of eosinophils and mast cells. These results suggested that it is possible to develop novel AD alternative therapy using BV by effectively suppressing allergic skin inflammation in AD.

Melittin, a honeybee venom‑derived antimicrobial peptide, may target methicillin‑resistant Staphylococcus aureus

Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) is difficult to treat using available antibiotic agents. Honeybee venom has been widely used as an oriental treatment for several inflammatory diseases and bacterial infections. The venom contains predominantly biologically active compounds, however, the therapeutic effects of such materials when used to treat MRSA infections have not been investigated extensively. The present study evaluated bee venom and its principal active component, melittin, in terms of their antibacterial activities and in vivo protection against MRSA infections. In vitro, bee venom and melittin exhibited comparable levels of antibacterial activity, which was more marked against MRSA strains, compared with other Gram-positive bacteria. When MRSA-infected mice were treated with bee venom or melittin, only the latter animals were successfully rescued from MRSA- induced bacteraemia or exhibited recovery from MRSA-infected skin wounds. Together, the data of the present study demonstrated for the first time, to the best of our knowledge, that melittin may be used as a promising antimicrobial agent to enhance the healing of MRSA-induced wounds.