Amphiphilic Hyaluronic Acids Enhance Sanshool’s Efficacy against Skin Photodamage <italic style="font-style: italic">via</italic> Stability Improvement and Cell Cycle Regulation

Yi Yang; Jun-Mei Song; Tian-You Wang; Shu-Wei Wu; Yu-Hang Zhou; Zhi-Peng Gu; Ling-Hong Guo; Xian Jiang

doi:10.1007/s10118-026-3657-y

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Amphiphilic Hyaluronic Acids Enhance Sanshool’s Efficacy against Skin Photodamage via Stability Improvement and Cell Cycle Regulation

RESEARCH ARTICLE | Updated：2026-07-01

- Amphiphilic Hyaluronic Acids Enhance Sanshool’s Efficacy against Skin Photodamage via Stability Improvement and Cell Cycle Regulation
- Amphiphilic Hyaluronic Acids Enhance Sanshool’s Efficacy against Skin Photodamage via Stability Improvement and Cell Cycle Regulation
- Chinese Journal of Polymer Science 2026年44卷第7期页码：2370-2384
- Affiliations：
  
  a.Department of Dermatology, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu 610041, China
  b.Laboratory of Dermatology, Clinical Institute of Inflammation and Immunology, Frontiers Science Center for Disease-related Molecular Network, West China Hospital, Chengdu 610041, China
  c.College of Polymer Science and Engineering, State Key Laboratory of Advanced Polymer Materials, Sichuan University, Chengdu 610065, China
- Author bio：
  
  guzhipeng2019@scu.edu.cn (Z.P.G.)
  linhom.guo@foxmail.com (L.H.G.)
  jiangxian@scu.edu.cn (X.J.)
- Funds：
  
  This work was financially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos. 524B2031 and 52422317) and the Special Research Project in Traditional Chinese Medicine (No. 2023MS099).;The authors declare no conflict of interest.Electronic supplementary information (ESI) is available free of charge in the online version of this article at http://doi.org/10.1007/s10118-026-3657-y.The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request. The author's contact information: guzhipeng2019@scu.edu.cn.
- DOI：10.1007/s10118-026-3657-y
  中图分类号：
- 收稿：2026-02-12，
  
  修回：2026-03-05，
  
  录用：2026-03-11，
  
  网络首发：2026-04-16，
  
  纸质出版：2026-07-05
- Accepted：
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Yang, Y.; Song, J. M.; Wang, T. Y.; Wu, S. W.; Zhou, Y. H.; Gu, Z. P.; Guo, L. H.; Jiang, X. Amphiphilic hyaluronic acids enhance sanshool’s efficacy against skin photodamage via stability improvement and cell cycle regulation. Chinese J. Polym. Sci. 2026, 44, 2370–2384

Yi Yang, Jun-Mei Song, Tian-You Wang, et al. Amphiphilic Hyaluronic Acids Enhance Sanshool’s Efficacy against Skin Photodamage via Stability Improvement and Cell Cycle Regulation[J]. Chinese Journal of Polymer Science, 2026, 44(7): 2370-2384. DOI: 10.1007/s10118-026-3657-y.
Yang, Y.; Song, J. M.; Wang, T. Y.; Wu, S. W.; Zhou, Y. H.; Gu, Z. P.; Guo, L. H.; Jiang, X. Amphiphilic hyaluronic acids enhance sanshool’s efficacy against skin photodamage via stability improvement and cell cycle regulation. Chinese J. Polym. Sci. 2026, 44, 2370–2384 DOI： 10.1007/s10118-026-3657-y.

Yi Yang, Jun-Mei Song, Tian-You Wang, et al. Amphiphilic Hyaluronic Acids Enhance Sanshool’s Efficacy against Skin Photodamage via Stability Improvement and Cell Cycle Regulation[J]. Chinese Journal of Polymer Science, 2026, 44(7): 2370-2384. DOI: 10.1007/s10118-026-3657-y. DOI：

摘要

Hydrophobically modified hyaluronic acid self-assembles with sanshool into nanoparticles that scavenge ROS

inhibit apoptosis

modulate autophagy

restore cell cycle

and enable multi-target photoprotection.

Abstract

Sanshool is a promising skin photoprotective agent with strong UV absorption and great antioxidative activity. However

it faces challenges including poor stability

skin penetration-associated systemic toxicity

and efficacy loss upon chemical modification. To address these issues

amphiphilic hyaluronic acids (HHA) were synthesized and self-assembled to integrate with sanshool

via

hydrophobic interactions

significantly boosting its photostability by 24% and enhancing its antioxidative activity. In HaCaT cells

HHA-sanshool nanoparticles (NPs) reduced UVB-induced reactive oxygen species

decreased cell apoptosis

and lowered G2/M phase arrest from 42% to approximately 31% (close to the normal level)

while also inhibiting excessive autophagy. Moreover

in a mouse model

HHA-sanshool NPs alleviated UVB-induced skin damage

reducing skin thickening by up to 50% and mitigating erythema

protected collagen/elastic fibers

and suppressed proinflammatory factor

with no dermal penetratio

in vivo

. This strategy provides a simple

efficient and safe platform for natural active molecular clinical translation in skin photoprotection.

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Amphiphilic Hyaluronic Acids Enhance Sanshool’s Efficacy against Skin Photodamage via Stability Improvement and Cell Cycle Regulation

Amphiphilic Hyaluronic Acids Enhance Sanshool’s Efficacy against Skin Photodamage via Stability Improvement and Cell Cycle Regulation

DOI：10.1007/s10118-026-3657-y

摘要

Abstract

关键词

Keywords

references