Ultraviolet radiation protection potentials of Methylene Blue for human skin and coral reef health

Methylene blue (MB) is a century-old medicine, a laboratory dye, and recently shown as a premier antioxidant that combats ROS-induced cellular aging in human skins. Given MB’s molecular structure and light absorption properties, we hypothesize that MB has the potential to be considered as a sunscreen active for UV radiation protection. In this study, we tested the effects of MB on UVB ray-induced DNA double-strand breaks in primary human keratinocytes. We found that MB treatment reduced DNA damages caused by UVB irradiation and subsequent cell death. Next, we compared MB with Oxybenzone, which is the most commonly used chemical active ingredient in sunscreens but recently proven to be hazardous to aquatic ecosystems, in particular to coral reefs. At the same concentrations, MB showed more effective UVB absorption ability than Oxybenzone and significantly outperformed Oxybenzone in the prevention of UVB-induced DNA damage and the clearance of UVA-induced cellular ROS. Furthermore, unlike Oxybenzone, MB-containing seawater did not affect the growth of the coral species Xenia umbellata. Altogether, our study suggests that MB has the potential to be a coral reef-friendly sunscreen active ingredient that can provide broad-spectrum protection against UVA and UVB.