Abstract

The current study was to investigate the positive protective effects of phytosphingosine (PS) against mite antigen and Staphylococcus aureus, etiological causes of an atopic dermatitis. To achieve this aim, PS was isolated from starfish,Asterina pectinifera, using high-performance liquid chromatography and was elucidated with nuclear magnetic resonance spectrometry. In the present experiment, PS, which ranged from 1 to 5 mM could protect the HaCaT cell against injuries caused by stimulation to 10 mg/ml mite antigen for 1 h, followed by incubation with serum-free medium for 24 h, which resembled the excitotoxin in vivo system. Furthermore, PS which was isolated from starfish could significantly inhibit the growth of S. aureus. In conclusion, this study demonstrated the protective effect of PS on excitotoxic damage against mite antigen and S. aureus through suppressing the excessive disruption of differentiation and exhibiting antibacterial capacity. This result implicated that the application of PS isolated from starfish might be a promising therapeutic option of atopic dermatitis.

Key words: Asterina pectinifera, atopic dermatitis, mite antigen, Staphylococcus aureus, antibacterial activity.