antioxidants Review Exploring Mycosporine-Like Amino Acids (MAAs) as Safe and Natural Protective Agents against UV-Induced Skin Damage Anjali Singh ,Mária Cˇ ížková, KateˇrinaBišová and Milada Vítová * Laboratory of Cell Cycles of Algae, Centre Algatech, Institute of Microbiology of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Novohradská 237, 379 81 Tˇreboˇn,Czech Republic;
[email protected] (A.S.);
[email protected] (M.C.);ˇ
[email protected] (K.B.) * Correspondence:
[email protected] Abstract: Prolonged exposure to harmful ultraviolet radiation (UVR) can induce many chronic or acute skin disorders in humans. To protect themselves, many people have started to apply cosmetic products containing UV-screening chemicals alone or together with physical sunblocks, mainly based on titanium–dioxide (TiO2) or zinc-oxide (ZnO2). However, it has now been shown that the use of chemical and physical sunblocks is not safe for long-term application, so searches for the novel, natural UV-screening compounds derived from plants or bacteria are gaining attention. Certain photosynthetic organisms such as algae and cyanobacteria have evolved to cope with exposure to UVR by producing mycosporine-like amino acids (MAAs). These are promising substitutes for chemical sunscreens containing commercially available sunblock filters. The use of biopolymers such as chitosan for joining MAAs together or with MAA-Np (nanoparticles) conjugates will provide Citation: Singh, A.; Cížková,ˇ M.; stability to MAAs similar to the mixing of chemical and physical sunscreens. This review critically Bišová, K.; Vítová, M. Exploring describes UV-induced skin damage, problems associated with the use of chemical and physical Mycosporine-Like Amino Acids (MAAs) as Safe and Natural sunscreens, cyanobacteria as a source of MAAs, the abundance of MAAs and their biotechnological Protective Agents against applications.