In Vitro Investigation of Antiaging Efficacy of Pterostilbene as Cosmetic Ingredient

Pterostilbene is gaining increasing attention as an effective ingredient in cosmetics. This study was performed to investigate the antiaging efficacy of pterostilbene using a human-originated P2 generation fibroblast assay and an in vitro skin experiment. A fibroblast cytotoxicity assay was performed to evaluate the safety of pterostilbene: a 30 J/cm2 UVA irradiated fibroblast cell assay and a 30 J/cm2 UVA and 50 mJ/cm2 UVB-irradiated in vitro skin experiment were carried out to evaluate the antiaging efficacy of pterostilbene. The cytotoxicity assay found that 3.90 µg/mL or lower concentrations of pterostilbene exerted no significant toxicity to fibroblasts. The fibroblast cell assay showed that 2.6 µg/mL pterostilbene alleviated the UVA damage to fibroblasts by down-regulating the gene expression of matrix metalloproteinase 1 (MMP-1) by 18.62% and decreasing the content of MMP-1 by 10.08%, MMP-3 by 15.10%, and collagen I by 33.92%. The in vitro skin experiment revealed that pterostilbene relieved the adverse UVA and UVB irradiation effects on skin tissue by increasing the thickness of the epidermis to maintain skin morphology, preventing the degradation of collagen fibers by 88.57%, and increasing the amount of collagen IV by 30.95%, collagen VII by 25.64%, and fibroblast growth factor-β (FGF-β) by 15.67%. This fibroblast assay and in vitro skin study consistently demonstrated the strong antiaging efficacy of pterostilbene.