The Acne-treatment Potential of Cinnamomum Camphora Chvar. Borneol Essential Oil in Vitro and in Vivo

Abstract

Background: Acne is one of the most common chronic inflammatory skin diseases, abnormal proliferation of keratinocytes can block the hair follicle sebaceous glands result in the formation of acne. Most drugs to treat acne can cause a variety of side effects, therefore, it is important to seek natural and safe complementary and alternative therapies.Methods: The inhibitory effects of BEO were determined on the proliferation of human keratinocyte (HaCaT) cells induced by heat-inactivated Staphylococcus epidermidis and release of the inflammatory mediators. Further, a component-target-signal pathway for BEO’s effects on acne was constructed through network pharmacology and the mechanism of BEO action was studied in vivo through the rabbit ear acne model.Results: BEO inhibited both cell proliferation, induced by heat-inactivated Staphylococcus epidermidis (p < 0.0001), and release of the inflammatory mediators TNF-α (p < 0.0001) and IL-1β (p < 0.05) in a dose-dependent manner (r = -0.9952, -0.9492), in a HaCaT cell-model of acne. A network pharmacology analysis of the chemical components of BEO characterized these effects as multi-component, multi-target and multi-pathway. All targets were mainly associated with metabolic pathways, the toll-like receptor signaling pathway and the NF-κB signaling pathway. BEO also reduced the severity of acne lesions, induced by intracutaneous injection of S. epidermidis in a rabbit ear acne model. The expression of inflammatory mediators and key signaling pathway components, including TLR2, AKT, P13K, NF-κB, TNF-α, IL-1β in rabbit ear, and TNF-α and IL-1 β in serum, were down-regulated (p < 0.05), indicating that BEO acts by inhibiting the pro-inflammatory TLR2/PI3K-AKT/NF-κB signaling pathway.Conclusion: The current results showed that BEO has clear potential for development into a natural and safe anti-inflammatory skin preparation, which is an effective alternative to conventional treatments containing antibiotics and synthetic anti-inflammatory agents.