Milk thistle and olive extract: old substances with a new mission against sun-induced skin damage

Natural antioxidants represent an effective option in the prevention and/or improvement of ultraviolet radiations (UVR)-induced/aggravated skin conditions. UVR cause DNA damage in keratinocytes, directly, in the form of cyclobutane pyrimidine dimers (CPDs), or indirectly, through oxidative stress production. Failure of the repair system can result in genetic mutations primarily responsible for the initiation of NMSCs. The aim of our study was to evaluate the in vitro protective effect of milk thistle and olive purified extracts on cultured keratinocytes after solar simulator irradiations (SSR)