Excellent Anti-aging Effects of Ursolic acid and Oleanolic acid Present in Ligustrum lucidum

Abstract

Ligustrum lucidum (L. lucidum) contains large quantities of ursolic acid and oleanolic acid. In this study, we evaluated anti-wrinkle effects of three parts of L. lucidum extracts. We found that L. lucidum extracts were not only innocuous to human skin fibroblasts but also significantly decreased the expression of both MMP-1 and MMP-2 and increased the expression of COL1A1. Among the three parts of L. lucidum extracts (i.e., fruit, cane, and leaf extracts), the fruit extract was found to contain the greatest amounts of ursolic acid and oleanolic acid. These three parts of L. lucidum extracts increased the expression of COL1A1 and decreased the expression of MMP-1 and MMP-2 in a dose-dependent manner. Especially, the fruit extract of L. lucidum had the greatest upregulating effect on COL1A1 and the greatest downregulating effect on MMP-1 and MMP-2 in a non-toxic and dose-dependent manner. These results suggest that L. lucidum, especially the fruit, could be used as active ingredients for functional cosmetics.