Skin aging offset: searching for active ingredients in extracts from Cistus L. species

The Paleolithic rock art sites in Côa Valley (Portugal), a UNESCO heritage site since 1998, are surrounded by numerous plants of medicinal and cultural value. Among them, Cistus albidus L. (CA), Cistus ladanifer L. subsp. ladanifer (CL) and Cistus salviifolius L. (CS), have been explored as sources of natural ingredients [ 1 ]. Their ethnopharmacological relevance to skin diseases prompted the authors to investigate their potential for skin anti-aging applications [ 1 ] [ 2 ]. Hydroethanolic extracts were prepared and characterized through High-performance liquid chromatography-photodiode array detection-electrospray ionization tandem mass spectrometry (HPLC-DAD-ESI/MS), revealing the presence of ellagic derivatives in all extracts, as well as myricetin and quercetin derivatives in CS and CA. At non-toxic concentrations (CL: 1.0 mg/mL; CS: 0.4 mg/mL; CA: 0.2 mg/mL), cytoprotective effects were observed in normal human dermal fibroblasts (NHDF) when submitted to tert -butyl hydroperoxide ( t -BHP; 0.5 mM). However, only CS and CL exhibited significative antioxidant activity in these cells ( p