The soybean cultivar SCEL-1 shows potent anti-photoaging effects in a UV-induced three-dimensional human skin and hairless mouse model

Abstract

Soybean (Glycine max) is one of the major sources of nutrition and is used as a raw material for food and as a source of feed for livestock. The efficacy of soybeans on skin health includes their ability to reduce wrinkles and pigmentation and increase skin elasticity and moisture content. Black soybean has been consumed worldwide for a long time, especially in Korea, and is used as a medicinal food against several disorders related to the skin. To evaluate whether its effect on the skin is different based on the cultivar of soybeans, three black soybean cultivars collected in Korea, Soybean Core collection Elite Line-1 (SCEL-1), Chung Ja-3 (CJ-3) and Won Heuk (WH), were selected to compare their effect on improving photoaging induced by ultraviolet rays (UVs). We found that SCEL-1 exhibited the best efficacy among the three cultivars tested, and treatment with this soybean extract significantly reduced the expression of matrix metalloproteinase-1 (MMP-1), preventing the degradation of collagen in a 3D human skin model. In addition, SCEL-1 application improved wrinkle- and photoaging-related symptoms, such as epidermal thickening, collagen deficiency and immune cell infiltration, in an animal model established by UV irradiation. Procyanidin B2 and epicatechin isolated from the SCEL-1 cultivar inhibited MMP-1 biosynthesis in UVB-irradiated human dermal fibroblasts, and these two major components are likely related to more significantly attenuated skin photoaging. Therefore, our results indicated that SCEL-1 exhibits good anti-wrinkle effects compared to the other two black soybean cultivars, suggesting that it represents an excellent agent for anti-photoaging.