Centella asiatica extracts modulate hydrogen peroxide-induced senescence in human dermal fibroblasts

Centella asiatica (C. asiatica) is a pharmacological plant in South Asia. It has been demonstrated that C. asiatica extracts containing various pentacyclic triterpenes exert healing effects, especially wound healing and collagen synthesis in skin. However, there are few studies on the effect of C. asiatica extracts on stress-induced premature senescence (SIPS). To determine whether H(2) O(2) -induced senescence is affected by C. asiatica extracts, we performed senescence analysis on cultured human dermal fibroblasts (HDFs). We also analysed whole gene expression level using microarrays and showed that 39 mRNAs are differentially expressed in H(2) O(2) -induced HDFs with and without treatment with C. asiatica extracts. These genes regulate apoptosis, gene silencing, cell growth, transcription, senescence, DNA replication and the spindle checkpoint. Differential expression of FOXM1, E2F2, MCM2, GDF15 and BHLHB2 was confirmed using semi-quantitative PCR. In addition, C. asiatica extracts rescued the H(2) O(2) -induced repression of replication in HDFs. Therefore, the findings presented here suggest that C. asiatica extracts might regulate SIPS by preventing repression of DNA replication and mitosis-related gene expression.