The World Health Organization estimates that 7 million people die every year due to pollution exposure. Among the different\npollutants to which living organism are exposed, ozone (O3) represents one of the most toxic, because its location which is the\nskin is one of the direct tissues exposed to the outdoor environment. Chronic exposure to outdoor stressors can alter cutaneous\nredox state resulting in the activation of inflammatory pathways. Recently, a new player in the inflammation mechanism was\ndiscovered: the multiprotein complex NLRP1 inflammasome, which has been shown to be also expressed in the skin. The\ntopical application of natural compounds has been studied for the last 40 years as a possible approach to prevent and eventually\ncure skin conditions. Recently, the possibility to use blueberry (BB) extract to prevent pollution-induced skin toxicity has been\nof great interest in the cosmeceutical industry. In the present study, we analyzed the cutaneous protective effect of BB extract in\nseveral skin models (2D, 3D, and human skin explants). Specifically, we observed that in the different skin models used, BB\nextracts were able to enhance keratinocyte wound closure and normalize proliferation and migration responses previously\naltered by O3. In addition, pretreatment with BB extracts was able to prevent ozone-induced ROS production and\ninflammasome activation measured as NRLP1-ASC scaffold formation and also prevent the transcripts of key inflammasome\nplayers such as CASP1 and IL-18, suggesting that this approach as a possible new technology to prevent cutaneous pollution\ndamage. Our data support the hypothesis that BB extracts can effectively reduce skin inflammation and be a possible new\ntechnology against cutaneous pollution-induced damage.
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