Tamarix articulata extract offers protection against toxicity induced by beauty products in Hs27 human skin fibroblasts

The current study evaluates the cytotoxicity and chemical analysis of selected beauty products and evaluation of the protective effect of Tamarix articulata (TA) extract against toxicity induced by beauty products in skin fibroblasts (Hs27). MTT and Crystal violet (CV) assays were used to determine the dose-dependent cytotoxic effects of products against Hs27 fibroblasts. DNA fragmentation assay was conducted to determine the mode of cell killing induced by evaluated beauty products. Chemical analysis and heavy metals were evaluated to determine beauty products. Pre-treatment with TA extract for different time points followed by time-dependent exposure with beauty products to assess the protective effect of TA extract in Hs27 cells was analysed by MTT and CV assays. Owing to the presence of various harmful heavy metals such as arsenic (As), chromium (Cr), cadmium (Cd), nickel (Ni), and lead (Pb) in beauty products, our results revealed that all beauty products induce significant cytotoxicity over time (1, 4 h) in a dose-dependent (125, 250, 500 {micro}g/mL) manner. DNA fragmentation assay revealed that the induced cytotoxicity was caused by necrosis. However, pre-incubation with a safe dose (50 {micro}g/mL) of TA for different times (24, 48 h) followed by exposure to various doses (62.5, 125, 250, 500 {micro}g/mL) of beauty products for different times (1, 4 h) revealed significant (*p[≤]0.05, **p[≤]0.01) protection against product-mediated cytotoxicity. The effect was more pronounced for 1 h exposure to products compared to 4 h. Our study demonstrates that the due to the presence of heavy metals in synthetic beauty products exhibits marked toxicity to skin fibroblasts. However, the presence of abundant bioactive polyphenols with promising antiscavenging activity in TA extracts significantly nullifies cytotoxicity promoted by examined beauty products in skin fibroblasts (Hs27).