UVA-Triggered Drug Release and Photo-Protection of Skin

Abstract

Light has attracted special attention as a stimulus for triggered drug delivery systems (DDS) due to its intrinsic features of being spatially and temporally tunable. Ultraviolet A (UVA) radiation has recently been used as a source of external light stimuli to control the release of drugs using a “switch on- switch off” procedure. This review discusses the promising potential of UVA radiation as the light source of choice for photo-controlled drug release from a range of photo-responsive and photolabile nanostructures via photo-isomerization, photo-cleavage, photo-crosslinking, and photo-induced rearrangement. In addition to its clinical use, we will also provide here an overview of the recent UVA-responsive drug release approaches that are developed for phototherapy and skin photoprotection.

Biological Activity of Pulcherrimin from the Meschnikowia pulcherrima Clade

“…Due to its inhibition of urease activity, pulcherrimin can be used in agriculture as a component of fertilizers with controlled availability of urea [ 22 ]. Perhaps pulcherrimin, as an iron chelator, may affect photoprotection against cell damage caused by UVA radiation, as some Fe chelators display such property [ 23 ]. Encouraged by these findings, we began to investigate other potential roles of this metabolite in natural habitats.…”

“…Bisset et al and Karisma at al. have drawn attention previously to the role of iron chelates in the stabilization of homeostasis within cells during UV treatment [ 23 , 33 ]. Therefore, pulcherrimin may be considered an iron chelate for various protection strategies against the negative effects of UV radiation.…”

Photocleavage‐based Photoresponsive Drug Delivery†

“…Since the energy of photons is inversely proportional to the wavelength of light, the removal of PPGs usually occurs under shortwavelength light, such as ultraviolet (UV) light (41). However, short-wavelength light (below 650 nm) often has limited penetration depth due to the absorption of endogenous fluorophores, such as hemoglobin and melanin (42)(43)(44). In addition, extremely long-wavelength light (above 900 nm) is not suitable for photoactivation in the body due to its low photon energy and overlapping with the absorption spectrum of water (45).…”

Editorial: Hair Follicle Stem Cell Regeneration in Aging

“…Ultraviolet (UV) radiation is the major cause of skin aging that is called photoaging, which provokes oxidative stress, inflammatory responses, and DNA damage. Three papers in this Research Topic focus on studying the role of UVA in skin aging ( Wang et al, 2020 ; Bai et al, 2021 ; Karisma et al, 2021 ). Bai et al investigated rapamycin as a macrolide immunosuppressant that protects skin fibroblasts from UVA-induced photoaging ( Bai et al, 2021 ).…”

“…Although UVA has a harmful effect to cause skin photoaging, it is a double-edged sword that can be used as a stimulus to switch the photo-controlled drug release upon a “switch on-switch off” procedure, which can be developed for clinical use. A review comprehensively summarized how UVA-triggered drug release as a promising potential for skin photoprotection and phototherapy ( Karisma et al, 2021 ). In addition to UVA-induced photoaging, recent advancements suggest that tissue mechanics is largely involved in regulating skin aging.…”