ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Pharmacol.
Sec. Ethnopharmacology
This article is part of the Research TopicNutraceuticals Modulation for Oxidative Stress in Disease and Health: Volume IIView all 5 articles
HARNESSING RED GRAPE POMACE EXTRACT FOR SUSTAINABLE BROAD-SPECTRUM PHOTOPROTECTION IN A RECONSTRUCTED HUMAN EPIDERMIS MODEL
Provisionally accepted
Antonella Smeriglio1*
Marta Mangano1Mariarosaria Ingegneri1Annarita La Neve1Chiara Brenna2
Luca Mastracci3Francesco Merlino4Giancarlo Tonon5Diego Bosco6
Domenico Trombetta1- 1University of Messina, Department of chemical, Biological, Pharmaceutical and Environmental Sciences (ChiBiOFarAm)), Messina, Italy
- 2Prigen srl, Viale Ortles 22/4, 20139 Milan, Italy., Milan, Italy
- 3Pathology Unit, Department of Surgical Sciences and Integrated Diagnostics (DISC), University of Genova,16132, Genoa, Italy
- 4Univerlab srl, Viale Ortles 22/4, 20139, Milan, Italy
- 5Prigen srl, Viale Ortles 22/4, 20139, Milan, Italy
- 6Italbiotec s.r.l. Piazza della Trivulziana, 4/A 20126, Milan, Italy
Select one of your emails
You have multiple emails registered with Frontiers:
Notify me on publication
Please enter your email address:
If you already have an account, please login
You don't have a Frontiers account ? You can register here
Red grape pomace, a major by-product of the winemaking industry, represents a sustainable source of bioactive polyphenols with high nutraceutical and cosmetic potential. In this study, a standardized grape pomace extract (GPE) was developed from quality-controlled dried pomace, compliant with European Pharmacopoeia requirements for heavy metals, microbiological purity, and residual moisture. Phytochemical profiling by LC-DAD-ESI-MS/MS revealed a complex composition dominated by anthocyanins—primarily malvidin-3-O-glucoside—alongside lignans, stilbenes, and flavonols. The extract showed a high total phenolic content (2.64 g GAE/100 g) and exhibited strong, concentration-dependent antioxidant activity, with the highest efficacy in FRAP and ORAC assays, and significant anti-inflammatory effects in protein denaturation and protease inhibition tests. GPE demonstrated excellent photochemical stability and was incorporated into a lipid-based cosmetic formulation (SS + GPE) to assess its safety and photoprotective efficacy in a reconstructed human epidermis (RHE) model exposed to UVA (26 J/cm²) and UVB (1.5 J/cm²) radiation. Both GPE and SS + GPE treatments markedly reduced ROS, NO, and IL-1α production (up to 60–65% reduction vs. irradiated control) while maintaining cell viability above 90%. Histological analysis further confirmed the structural protection of the epidermis, showing fewer dyskeratotic cells, restored intercellular cohesion, and normalization of keratinization. This is a provisional file, not the final typeset article Overall, these results demonstrate that GPE is a safe, photostable, and multifunctional bioactive extract capable of counteracting UV-induced oxidative and inflammatory damage. This study provides a comprehensive and sustainable strategy for the upcycling of red grape pomace into high value dermocosmetic formulations with proven broad-spectrum photoprotective efficacy.
Keywords: anti-inflammatory activity, antioxidant activity, Circular economy, dermocosmetic formulation, Grape pomace extract, Photoprotection, Polyphenols, Reconstructed human epidermis
Received: 11 Nov 2025; Accepted: 02 Dec 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Smeriglio, Mangano, Ingegneri, La Neve, Brenna, Mastracci, Merlino, Tonon, Bosco and Trombetta. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Antonella Smeriglio
Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.