Abstract
Objectives To study the effect of honglanhua-medicated wine on mice skin.
Methods Groups of mice were administered different amounts of honglanhua-medicated wine. The same shaved area of skin from each mouse was evaluated for percentage of moisture, SOD activity and hydroxyproline content.
Results Compared with the control group, in the wine group, skin SOD activity and skin hydroxyproline content tended to increase, while skin moisture content was significantly increased (p < 0.01). A high dose of honglanhua-medicated wine significantly improved skin SOD activity (p < 0.05), while high and middle doses significantly increased skin hydroxyproline content (p < 0.01). High, middle and low doses of honglanhua-medicated wine significantly improved skin moisture content (p < 0.01).
Conclusions The results show that honglanhua-medicated wine increased skin moisture content, SOD activity and hydroxyproline content, indicating that honglanhua-medicated wine has a cosmetic effect by locking in skin moisture, rejuvenating skin, increasing skin elasticity, etc, in line with its use in traditional Chinese medicine to enhance beauty. The moistening, antioxidant and emollient properties of honglanhua-medicated wine should be further explored.
Acknowledgments This research was financially supported by the National ‘Eleventh Five-Year’ Support Program (Grant No. 2008BAI53B09), College of Science and Technology Innovation Team (Grant No. 2012 IRTSTHN011) and Zhengzhou Municipal Science and Technology Innovation Team Program (Grant No. 131PCXTD612).