Abstract:

The aim of the study was to explore the effect of donkey oil in enhancing the skin barrier function and its possible mechanism. Sodium lauryl sulfate was applied to the three-dimensional epidermal model （EpiKutis） to construct the skin barrier damage model, the tissue activity was detected by the MTT method and the level of IL-1α by the ELISA method. It was used to study the effect of the donkey oil on the barrier index and IL-1α level of the SLS-induced EpiKutis. RNA-seq technology was used to explain the physiological mechanism of donkey oil on the skin, and to reveal the possible mechanism of donkey oil to enhance the skin barrier function. The results show that donkey oil can significantly increase the barrier index of the SLS- EpiKutis model and reduce the level of IL-1α, and the effect is similar to that of dexamethasone. After the donkey oil acting on the EpiKutis model, 1 649 differentially expressed genes are screened, of which 619 genes are up-regulated and 1 030 genes are down-regulated. GO functional enrichment analysis shows that differentially expressed genes are related to epidermal development, epidermal cell differentiation and skin development. KEGG pathway enrichment analysis results show that differential genes are involved in TGF-β signaling pathway, IL-17 signaling pathway, HIF-1 signaling pathway, and cell factor-cytokine receptor interaction, NF-κB signaling pathway and other important biological pathways. The pathways related to donkey oil enhancing the skin barrier function may be TGF-β signaling pathway, HIF-1 signaling pathway and NF-κB signaling pathway.

Key words: donkey oil, skin barrier, 3D skin model, high-throμghput sequencing （RNA-seq）