Biflavonoids isolated from Selaginella tamariscina regulate the expression of matrix metalloproteinase in human skin fibroblasts Original Research Article

The methanol extract from Selaginella tamariscina significantly inhibited UV irradiation induced activity of matrix metalloproteinase-1 (MMP-1) in primary fibroblasts from human skin. Using the technique of bioassay-directed chromatographic separation, five biflavonoids were isolated from the ethyl acetate soluble fraction of S. tamariscina. Here, we investigated the effect of these five biflavonoids on the regulation of MMP-1 and -2 in UV irradiated cultured dermal fibroblasts from human neonatal foreskins. Among these biflavonoids, sumaflavone and amentoflavone showed significant MMP-1 inhibitory activity in primary human dermal fibroblasts after UV irradiation. The IC50 values of sumaflavone, amentoflavone and retinoic acid, which was used as a positive control, were 0.78, 1.8, and 10 μM, respectively.