Cytokinins from Plants to Humans ^†

Abstract

The plant hormones cytokinins play a major role in cell division and cell differentiation. They affect organogenesis in plant cell cultures and contribute to many other physiological and developmental processes in plants. Kinetin was first discovered 60 years ago and was the first known member of cytokinines. On the market, kinetin is formulated by cosmetic companies to combat anti-aging and is topically applied without a defined dosage or instructions on its use. Until now, no systemic formulations with specific doses and mechanisms have been produced. Some studies have reported the effect of kinetin on different human diseases , such as its ability to prevent age-related changes in human skin by protecting the DNA in skin cells from damage (antioxidant effects) and decreasing skin water loss, in addition to its therapeutic potential in the treatment of the human splicing disease, familial dysautonomia, in vitro. Our research with kinetin began with studying its activity in plants , followed by screening for the systemic activity of kinetin in mammalian cells in vitro, where we showed for the first time that kinetin exerts anticytotoxic, antioxidant, antigenotoxic and antiapoptotic activities in different cell lines from different origins. The promising in vitro results allowed us to continue to the in vivo stage of the investigation, where we examined the safety of kinetin for systemic administration in rats.