Quick Post on Sunburn and Seed Oils

A full post on this topic is long, long overdue. This will have to do for now.

Ultra-violet radiation causes Ω-6 fats to autoxidize to 4-HNE, promoting ferroptosis and the inflammatory cascade typical of sunburn. Blocking ferroptosis topically on skin reduces production of 4-HNE:

• “Keratinocyte Death by Ferroptosis Initiates Skin Inflammation After UVB Exposure” (Vats, 2021)

Supplementation of Ω-3 fats (which replace Ω-6 fats in cell membranes) reduces susceptibility to sun burn:

• “Dietary, but not Topical, alpha-Linolenic Acid Suppresses UVB-induced Skin Injury in Hairless Mice when Compared with Linoleic Acid.” (Takemura, 2002)

• “Amelioration of UVB-Induced Oxidative Stress and Inflammation in Fat-1 Transgenic Mouse Skin.” (Yum, 2018)

• “Dietary Fish-Oil Supplementation in Humans Reduces UVB-Erythemal Sensitivity but Increases Epidermal Lipid Peroxidation.” (Rhodes, 1994)

Substances such as carnosine that protect from conversion of LA to 4-HNE protect from UV-induced skin damage.

• “Lipidome Investigation of Carnosine Effect on Nude Mice Skin to Prevent UV-A Damage.” (Zoanni, 2023)

There’s a lot more—my first attempt at this post resulted in a draft now titled “Longer Post…”—but this should meet the need at hand.

Picture to make Substack happy, from (Rhodes, 1994). Erythema is sunburn.

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References

Rhodes, L. E., O’Farrell, S., Jackson, M. J., & Friedmann, P. S. (1994). Dietary Fish-Oil Supplementation in Humans Reduces UVB-Erythemal Sensitivity but Increases Epidermal Lipid Peroxidation. The Journal of Investigative Dermatology, 103(2), 151–154. https://doi.org/10.1111/1523-1747.ep12392604

Takemura, N., Takahashi, K., Tanaka, H., Ihara, Y., Ikemoto, A., Fujii, Y., & Okuyama, H. (2002). Dietary, but not Topical, alpha-Linolenic Acid Suppresses UVB-induced Skin Injury in Hairless Mice when Compared with Linoleic Acid. Photochemistry and Photobiology, 76(6), 657–663. https://doi.org/10.1562/0031-8655(2002)0760657DBNTAL2.0.CO2

Vats, K., Kruglov, O., Mizes, A., Samovich, S. N., Amoscato, A. A., Tyurin, V. A., Tyurina, Y. Y., Kagan, V. E., & Bunimovich, Y. L. (2021). Keratinocyte Death by Ferroptosis Initiates Skin Inflammation After UVB Exposure. Redox Biology, 47, 102143. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.redox.2021.102143

Yum, H.-W., Kim, S. H., Kang, J. X., & Surh, Y.-J. (2018). Amelioration of UVB-Induced Oxidative Stress and Inflammation in Fat-1 Transgenic Mouse Skin. Biochemical and Biophysical Research Communications, 502(1), 1–8. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bbrc.2018.05.093

Zoanni, B., Aiello, G., Negre-Salvayre, A., Aldini, G., Carini, M., & D’Amato, A. (2023). Lipidome Investigation of Carnosine Effect on Nude Mice Skin to Prevent UV-A Damage. International Journal of Molecular Sciences, 24(12), Article 12. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms241210009