Skin health and beauty are important fundamental factors representing overall “well-being” as well as the perception of “health” in humans [
1]. Skin aging is a part of the natural age progression for humans and is influenced by endogenous or intrinsic factors, including genetics, cellular metabolism, hormones, and metabolic processes. It is also promoted by exogenous or extrinsic factors, such as light exposure, pollution, ionizing radiation, chemicals, and toxins [
2]. The endogenous and exogenous factors cause cumulative structural and physiological alterations as well as progressive changes in the skin layers and even the skin appearance, especially photoaging-damaged skin [
3]. With normal body development, acne vulgaris is a common skin disorder that affects approximately 85% of adolescents and may continue to young adulthood [
4]. Acne vulgaris can reduce skin appearance, such as permanent physical scarring, leading to lifelong problems regarding self-esteem, depression, and even unemployment [
5]. Because of the negative effects of skin aging and acne vulgaris on skin health and beauty, naturally active agents with anti-aging and anti-acne have been discovered and developed during the past few years. Much scientific research has revealed that many plants have great potential to be anti-aging [
6,
7] and anti-acne [
8,
9] agents.Houttuynia cordata Thunb. is a perennial plant spread widely across many countries in Asia. H. cordata has been used as medicine and also as food. The plant is grown and harvested for daily vegetable consumption, particularly in the North and Northeast of Thailand [
10]. As a medicinal plant, it has also been studied for a long time. Scientific evidence has revealed the efficacy of H. cordata in traditional Asian medicines. It has long been used to treat many disorders including constipation, hypertension, pneumonia, and hyperglycemia via detoxification, the reduction of heat, and diuretic action [
11]. Moreover, a large number of research results have shown that H. cordata extracts have the potential to exhibit a broad spectrum of biological activities. The ethanol extracts of H. cordata induced apoptotic programmed cell death in human primary colorectal cancer cells [
12]. The methanolic extract of H. cordata could possess a free radical scavenging activity using 2, 2-diphenyl1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH), ferric reducing antioxidant power (FRAP), and Trolox equivalent anti-oxidant capacity assays [
13]. Water extracts of H. cordata have shown anti-inflammatory activity on lipoteichoic acid (LTA)-induced inflammation in dermal fibroblasts by suppressing the metabolic pathway of tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) [
14]. An aqueous extract of H. cordata exhibits immunomodulatory and anti-severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) activities [
15]. An aqueous extract of H. cordata could inhibit Murine salmonellosis and Salmonella typhimurium that infected the RAW 264.7 macrophage [
16]. The ethanolic extract of H. cordata poultice exhibited antibacterial and antibiofilm activities against methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), suggesting that the extract is effective for skin abscesses [
17]. Although many biological properties of H. cordata extracts have been found, their anti-aging and anti-acne effects have not yet been investigated. Therefore, the aim of this research was to evaluate the in vitro anti-aging and anti-acne activities of H. cordata extracts, and their cytotoxic activities and phytochemicals are analyzed with LC-MS/MS.
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