Zozo Outskouni 1 , Christina Christodoulou 1 , Andreas Goutas 1,2, Ioannis D. Kyriazis 1 ,Adamantini Paraskevopoulou 3 , George P. Laliotis 4 , Anthia Matsakidou 3 , Athanasios Gogas 5 and Varvara Trachana 1,*

1 Department of Biology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Thessaly, 41500 Larisa, Greece; 该Email地址已收到反垃圾邮件插件保护。要显示它您需要在浏览器中启用JavaScript。 (Z.O.); 该Email地址已收到反垃圾邮件插件保护。要显示它您需要在浏览器中启用JavaScript。 (C.C.); 该Email地址已收到反垃圾邮件插件保护。要显示它您需要在浏览器中启用JavaScript。 (A.G.); 该Email地址已收到反垃圾邮件插件保护。要显示它您需要在浏览器中启用JavaScript。 (I.D.K.)

2 Biomedical Research Foundation of the Academy of Athens, 11527 Athens, Greece

3 Laboratory of Food Chemistry & Technology, School of Chemistry, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, 54124 Thessaloniki, Greece; 该Email地址已收到反垃圾邮件插件保护。要显示它您需要在浏览器中启用JavaScript。 (A.P.); 该Email地址已收到反垃圾邮件插件保护。要显示它您需要在浏览器中启用JavaScript。 (A.M.)

4 Laboratory of Animal Breeding and Husbandry, Department of Animal Science, Agricultural University of Athens, 75 Iera Odos, 11855 Athens, Greece; 该Email地址已收到反垃圾邮件插件保护。要显示它您需要在浏览器中启用JavaScript。

5 Le Blanc Skincare, 41222 Larisa, Greece; 该Email地址已收到反垃圾邮件插件保护。要显示它您需要在浏览器中启用JavaScript。 * 

Correspondence: 该Email地址已收到反垃圾邮件插件保护。要显示它您需要在浏览器中启用JavaScript。

Citation: Outskouni, Z.; Christodoulou, C.; Goutas, A.; Kyriazis, I.D.; Paraskevopoulou, A.; Laliotis, G.P.; Matsakidou, A.; Gogas, A.; Trachana, V. Cryptomphalus aspersa Egg Extract Protects against Human Stem Cell Stress-Induced Premature Senescence. Int. J. Mol. Sci. 2024, 25, 3715. https://doi.org/10.3390/ ijms25073715

Academic Editor: Carlo Ventura

Received: 7 January 2024

Revised: 23 March 2024

Accepted: 25 March 2024

Published: 27 March 2024

Copyright: © 2024 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https:// creativecommons.org/licenses/by/ 4.0/)

Abstract: Cellular senescence is a tightly regulated pathophysiologic process and is caused by replicative exhaustion or external stressors. Since naturally derived bioactive compounds with anti-ageing properties have recently captured scientific interest, we analysed the anti-ageing and antioxidant efficacy of Cryptomphalus aspersa egg extract (CAEE). Its effects on stemness, woundhealing properties, antioxidant defense mechanisms, and DNA damage repair ability of Human Wharton’s jelly mesenchymal stem cells (WJ-MSCs) were analysed. Our results revealed that CAEE fortifies WJ-MSCs stemness, which possibly ameliorates their wound-healing ability. Additionally, we show that CAEE possesses a strong antioxidant capacity as demonstrated by the elevation of the levels of the basic antioxidant molecule, GSH, and the induction of the NRF2, a major antioxidant regulator. In addition, CAEE alleviated cells’ oxidative stress and therefore prevented stress-induced premature senescence (SIPS). Furthermore, we demonstrated that the prevention of SIPS could be mediated via the extract’s ability to induce autophagy, as indicated by the elevation of the protein levels of all basic autophagic molecules and the increase in formation of autophagolysosomes in CAEEtreated WJ-MSCs. Moreover, CAEE-treated cells exhibited decreased Caveolin-1 levels. We propose that Cryptomphalus aspersa egg extract comprises bioactive compounds that can demonstrate strong antioxidant/anti-ageing effects by regulating the Caveolin-1–autophagy–senescence molecular axis.

Keywords: mesenchymal stem cells; senescence; snail egg extract; nutraceuticals