Methylene Blue: research relating to its topical benefits

Written by Kitty Blomfield

Methylene Blue is a truly unique and versatile man-made compound, which has been used in multiple fields including medicine and biology for over a century (first synthesised in 1876), and more recently as a nootropic and mitochondrial enhancer.

Only in the past few years though has it been recognised in the topical skincare realm, with research proving its effectiveness in not only delaying but even reversing skin ageing.

Study excerpts and links below:

Methylene blue alleviates nuclear and mitochondrial abnormalities in progeria

“Hutchinson-Gilford progeria syndrome (HGPS), a fatal premature aging disease, is caused by a single-nucleotide mutation in the LMNA gene.”

“Our analysis indicated that MB treatment not only alleviated the mitochondrial defects but also rescued the hallmark nuclear abnormalities in HGPS cells. Additional analysis suggested that MB treatment released progerin from the nuclear membrane, rescued perinuclear heterochromatin loss and corrected misregulated gene expression in HGPS cells. Together, these results demonstrate a role of mitochondrial dysfunction in developing the premature aging phenotypes in HGPS cells and suggest MB as a promising therapeutic approach for HGPS.”

Source: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/acel.12434

"This is actually a really good study because it not only shows that MB reverses progeria, but MB can also have anti-aging abilities in normally aging organisms.” – Georgi Dinkov

Anti-Aging Potentials of Methylene Blue for Human Skin Longevity

“Skin treated with methylene blue retained more water and increased in thickness, both of which are features typical of younger skin.”

“It (Elastin) provides natural elasticity and strength to human skin and also plays a role in tissue repair. We found a robust increase in elastin expression by MB, suggesting that MB treatment enhances skin elasticity and improves skin wound healing.”

“Gene expression analysis showed that MB treatment altered the expression of a subset of extracellular matrix proteins in the skin, including upregulation of elastin and collagen, two essential components for healthy skin.”

“MB is a more potent ROS scavenger than NAC, MitoQ, and mTEM.”

“these results indicated that MB treatment is capable of reducing and/or reversing aging phenotypes in old skin fibroblasts.”

“MB treatment on 3D reconstructed skin models provides strong evidence of its potential for improving skin viability, increasing skin hydration and thickness, promoting skin elastin and collagen synthesis, and protecting the skin matrix through the inhibition of enzymatic degradation by MMP. Altogether, our study suggests that MB can be a promising agent for use in anti-aging cosmetics.”

Source: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-017-02419-3

Ultraviolet radiation protection potentials of Methylene Blue for human skin and coral reef health

“MB is a more robust ROS scavenger than BP-3, Vitamin A, and Vitamin C in skin cells.”

“We evaluated the effectiveness of MB in comparison with Vitamin A and Vitamin C, both of which are popular antioxidants in skincare products. We first monitored the cell proliferation for a 2-week time frame. In this experiment, we observed that MB enhanced the cell proliferation greatly in all four lines with comparable effectiveness to Vitamin C. Vitamin A, conversely, did not affect the cell proliferation rates. The combination of MB and Vitamin C synergistically boosted the cell proliferation capacities even higher in all four lines. Next, we measured the final mitochondrial ROS after a four-week treatment period. Surprisingly, MB was the only treatment that consistently reduced the mitochondrial ROS in all four cell lines. The combination of MB and Vitamin C worked more effectively in old fibroblasts in ROS clearance, while in young cell lines, this combination has less of an effect.” “MB activates the DNA damage repair pathway inside the cell, possibly through activating DNA damage repair pathways”

“MB has the desired abilities of both UVB blocking and DNA damage mitigation. It not only absorbs UVB but also reduces the DNA damages induced by UVB, thereby promoting cell survival post UVB irradiation.”

Source: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-021-89970-2

Methylene blue mediated photodynamic therapy for resistant plaque psoriasis

“The results are encouraging to accept MB as a photosensitizer for PDT and as a safe and effective method for treatment of selected cases of resistant localized psoriasis.”

Source: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/19180895/

Liposomal methylene blue hydrogel for selective photodynamic therapy of acne vulgaris

“Liposomal MB hydrogel selectively delivered MB to sebaceous gland and was effective in photodynamic treatment of mild-to-moderate acne vulgaris.”

Source: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/19894365/

Disclaimer: The information contained in this blog should not be used to treat or diagnose disease or health problems and is provided for your information only.