Glycerin is safe, effective in psoriasis model

Date:
October 4, 2021
Source:
Medical College of Georgia at Augusta University
Summary:
Patients with psoriasis have reported that glycerin, an inexpensive,
harmless, slightly sweet liquid high on the list of ingredients
in many skin lotions, is effective at combating their psoriasis
and now scientists have objective evidence to support their reports.



FULL STORY ========================================================================== Patients with psoriasis have reported that glycerin, an inexpensive,
harmless, slightly sweet liquid high on the list of ingredients in
many skin lotions, is effective at combatting their psoriasis and now scientists have objective evidence to support their reports.


==========================================================================
They found that whether applied topically or ingested in drinking water, glycerin, or glycerol, helps calm the classic scaly, red, raised and itchy patches in their psoriasis model, Dr. Wendy Bollag, cell physiologist
and skin researcher at the Medical College of Georgia and Charlie Norwood
VA Medical Center and her colleagues report in the International Journal
of Molecular Sciences.

The studies also provide more evidence of the different ways glycerin
enables the healthy maturation of skin cells through four stages that
result in a smooth, protective skin layer. Psoriasis is an immune-mediated problem that typically surfaces in young adults in which skin cells
instead multiply rapidly, piling up into inflamed patches.

"We have experimental data now to show what these patients with psoriasis
are reporting," says Bollag, who nearly 20 years ago first reported
in The Journal of Investigative Dermatology that glycerin, a natural
alcohol and water attractor known to help the skin look better, also
safely helped it function better by helping skin cells mature properly.

Bollag's early report led to many anecdotal reports from individuals
and their reports ultimately led to the newly published study.

Topically, glycerin is known to have a soothing, emollient effect. But
another key part of its magic, which Dr. Bollag has helped delineate,
is its conversion to the lipid, or fat, phosphatidylglycerol, which
ultimately regulates the function of keratinocytes, our major skin cell
type, and suppresses inflammation in the skin.



========================================================================== Glycerin gets into the skin through avenues like aquaporin-3, a channel expressed in skin cells, and the MCG scientists have shown that once
inside, aquaporin 3 funnels glycerin to phospholipase-D-2, an enzyme
that converts fats in the external cell membrane into cell signals,
ultimately converting glycerin to phosphatidylglycerol.

In 2018, Bollag and team reported that topical application of phosphatidylglycerol reduced inflammation and the characteristic raised
skin patches in a mouse model of psoriasis. This time they decided to
look at the impact of its widely available precursor glycerin.

For the new studies, they used imiquimod, which is known to produce
psoriasis- like plaques on humans using it for problems like genital warts
and some skin cancers, to produce an animal model. The mice either drank
the sweet natural alcohol or the scientists applied it topically. Either
way, glycerin helped reduce development of the characteristic skin
lesions, the scientists report, a finding which helps underline that
glycerin works in more than one way to improve the skin condition.

Externally, glycerin showed its action as an emollient because even
in mice missing phospholipase-D-2, it was beneficial. Additionally,
topically it appears to compete with hydrogen peroxide for space inside
the aquaporin 3 channel. Hydrogen peroxide is commonly known as a mild antiseptic but we produce it as well and at low levels it's a cell
signaling molecule. But at high levels, hydrogen peroxide produces
destructive oxidative stress, which can actually cause psoriasis.

The scientists found that topical glycerin reduced the levels of hydrogen peroxide entering skin cells. When they added glycerin and hydrogen
peroxide at the same time directly to skin cells, they found that glycerin protected against the oxidative stress from hydrogen peroxide.



========================================================================== "Glycerol is basically outcompeting the hydrogen peroxide in getting
in there and preventing it from being able to enter and increase
oxidative stress," Bollag says. Oil and water don't mix, so yet another
way glycerin may be helpful is by supporting the skin's major role as
a water permeability barrier so that, as an extreme, when we sit in a
bathtub the bath water doesn't pass through our skin so we blow up like
a balloon, she says.

On the other hand, when glycerin was ingested by the mice missing the phospholipase- D-2, which converts fats or lipids in a cell's membrane
to signals, it simply did not work, Bollag says, which confirmed their
earlier findings that internally anyway, glycerin pairs with the enzyme
to produce the signal essential to skin cell maturation.

Some of their other most recent work is detailing more about how phosphatidylglycerol decreases inflammation.

Bollag would like next steps to also include clinical trials with dermatologists and patients and is working to find a formulation scientist
who can make what she thinks will be the optimal combination: glycerin
and phosphatidylglycerol in the same topical cream.

The addition of phosphatidylglyerol itself, rather than just the glycerin
that makes it, is essentially a backup since there is some evidence that
in psoriasis the essential conversion of glycerin to phosphatidylglycerol
is not optimal. Bollag's lab and others have shown reduced levels of
aquaporin 3 in psoriasis, which likely means less phosphatidylgycerol,
so making more glycerin available may help, albeit not as efficiently,
raise the availability of this lipid essential to normal skin cell proliferation.

Moving quickly into clinical trials should be comparatively easy
since, as with glycerin, there already is experience with the use of phosphatidylglycerol in humans. For example, it's a component of some
high-end cosmetics, Bollag says.

She suspects that this sort of two-punch combination, could help keep
early signs of psoriasis at bay and, with more advanced disease, use
existing psoriasis treatments to get the skin condition under control
then start applying glycerin to help keep it that way.

Bollag and her colleagues reported in 2018 in the Journal of Investigative Dermatologythat in a mouse model of psoriasis, phosphtidylglycerol reduced inflammation and the characteristic raised skin lesions of psoriasis.

While its exact cause is unclear, psoriasis is an immune-mediated
condition and patients have higher levels of inflammation, as well
as too many skin cells being produced then maturing abnormally. The
heightened inflammation also puts them at increased risk for problems
like heart disease.

Biologics used to treat psoriasis work different ways to stem this
overactive immune response but in addition to their high cost, can put
the patient at risk for problems like serious infections and cancer. The
only side effect she has seen in about 20 years of working with glycerin
and the clinical and cosmetic use already out there, is it can leave
the skin feeling slightly sticky.

Our bodies can make glycerol from the carbohydrates, proteins and fats
that we eat or already have in our body.

The research was funded in part by the Veterans Administration.

========================================================================== Story Source: Materials provided by Medical_College_of_Georgia_at_Augusta_University.

Original written by Toni Baker. Note: Content may be edited for style
and length.


========================================================================== Journal Reference:
1. Vivek Choudhary, Ismail Kaddour-Djebbar, Victoria E. Custer, Rawipan
Uaratanawong, Xunsheng Chen, Elyssa Cohen, Rong Yang, Etsubdenk
Ajebo, Sarah Hossack, Wendy B. Bollag. Glycerol Improves Skin
Lesion Development in the Imiquimod Mouse Model of Psoriasis:
Experimental Confirmation of Anecdotal Reports from Patients with
Psoriasis. International Journal of Molecular Sciences, 2021; 22
(16): 8749 DOI: 10.3390/ijms22168749 ==========================================================================

Link to news story: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2021/10/211004104229.htm

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