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Review
. 2023 Mar 9;12(3):680.
doi: 10.3390/antiox12030680.

Rosmarinus officinalis and Skin: Antioxidant Activity and Possible Therapeutical Role in Cutaneous Diseases

Federica Li Pomi  1 , Vincenzo Papa  2 , Francesco Borgia  1 , Mario Vaccaro  1 , Alessandro Allegra  3 , Nicola Cicero  4 , Sebastiano Gangemi  2
Affiliations
Review

Rosmarinus officinalis and Skin: Antioxidant Activity and Possible Therapeutical Role in Cutaneous Diseases

Federica Li Pomi et al. Antioxidants (Basel). .

Abstract

The rosemary plant, Rosmarinus officinalis L., one of the main members of the Lamiaceae family, is currently one of the most promising herbal medicines due to its pharmaceutical properties. This research aimed to evaluate the antioxidant role of Rosmarinus officinalis and its bioactive compounds on the skin, with a focus on the newly emerging molecular mechanisms involved, providing extensive scientific evidence of its anti-inflammatory, antimicrobial, wound-healing and anticancer activity in dermatological practice. The search was conducted on articles concerning in vitro and in vivo studies in both animals and humans. The results obtained confirm the antioxidant role of R. officinalis. This assumption derives the possibility of using R. officinalis or its bioactive elements for the treatment of inflammatory and infectious skin pathologies. However, although the use of rosemary in the treatment of skin diseases represents a fascinating line of research, future perspectives still require large and controlled clinical trials in order to definitively elucidate the real impact of this plant and its components in clinical practice.

Keywords: ROS; Rosmarinus officinalis; anti-aging; carnosol; cutaneous disease; lymphoma; oxidative stress; rosemary; skin; skin cancer.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Schematic representation of the relevant molecular patterns involved in the promising antioxidant effects of Rosmarinus officinalis and its main bioactive compounds on three dermatological conditions: atopic dermatitis, UV-induced photoaging and pollution-induced skin aging. In atopic dermatitis, beyond the synergic action of carnosol and carnosic acid in downregulating inflammation-related genes, and therefore pro-inflammatory cytokines, leucocyte migration and NGF inhibition promotion, the specific action of carnosol on the STAT3 pathway is emphasized, for which the LPS-induced phosphorylation lock results in anti-inflammatory effects, together with carnosol’s direct inhibition of iNOS, NO and COX-2 activation. In UV-induced photoaging, the action of Rosmarinus officinalis in downregulating basal and transcriptional levels of MMP-1, as well as the inflammatory cytokines IL-6 and IL-1α, is highlighted. Also portrayed is the specific action of carnosol in downregulating TNF-α, IL-1β and serum levels of UV-induced IgE, and the inhibitory action of rosmarinic acid both on the MEK/ERK/AP-1 pathway and on MMP-1, MMP-3 and MMP-9. In pollution-induced skin aging, the downregulatory action of the two main phenolic diterpenes of Rosmarinus officinalis is mainly demonstrated on MMP-9, protein adduct formation and the loss of filaggrin. Created with BioRender.com.
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