Efeito de PereSkin, uma formulação contendo extrato de Pereskia aculeata Miller, no tratamento de dermatite atópica induzida em ratos

Abstract

Atopic dermatitis (AD) is a chronic, allergic and recurrent disease that affects 1 to 20% of the world’s population, including adults and children, whose increasing incidence follows industrialization levels in different countries. Its manifestation usually begins during the early childhood, along with other allergic diseases such as asthma, rhinitis and allergic conjunctivitis, as a consequence of the atopic march. Similarly, AD can affect dogs, and the canine atopic dermatitis (CAD) is currently the second most common veterinary dermatopathy presented in clinical animal health, making the disease a growing concern in the health area. The currently most accepted theory for its development involves a set of intrinsec and extrinsic factors, of both immunological and non-immunological nature. Immunological responses involves a type I hypersensitivity mediated by IgE while trophic disturbances involving the expression of epithelial proteins result in skin barrier disruption. Terapeutic approach for this condition includes maintenance of the skin barrier, aiming to reduce transepidermal water loss (TEWL), exposure to allergens and the consequent inflammatory response. In this scenario, the species Pereskia aculeata is a Cactaceae used in brazilian tradicional medicine whose leaves are used as an emollient agent due to heir mucilaginous content, in order to reduce inflammatory processes associated with many skin diseases. This work aimed to evaluate the effects of an extract rich in polyssacharides obtained from the leaves of P. aculeata wich was incorporated into a hypoallergenic formulation named PereSkin, used in the topical treatment of an animal model of AD induced by capsaicin in Wistar rats, in two different time points of continuos treatment, for 2 and 4 weeks. Clinical evaluations carried out throughout the experiment indicated that the use of PereSkin is associated with a reduction in the dermatitis score, corroborated histopathological and morfometric evaluations, showing a reduction in epidermal thickness in addition to a decrease in associated morphological alterations. Histochemical analyzes showed a reduction in the dermis infiltrated of mast cells. Taken together, these observations sugest that PereSkin exerts anti-inflammatory activitie, helping on the skin barrier restitution and reducing the AD associated symptoms, and may be useful in the coadjuvant topical treatment and in the maintenance therapy of AD patients.