A sustainable functional food ingredient from Saussurea involucrata cell culture alleviates atopic dermatitis-like inflammation via arachidonic acid metabolic remodeling.

Nutritional interventions may complement established approaches for managing atopic dermatitis (AD). Here, we evaluated Saussurea involucrata cell culture (SIC), a sustainable functional-food material, in a DNCB-induced mouse model of AD-like inflammation. Chemical profiling established the phytochemical composition of SIC, and both topical and oral interventions improved macroscopic and histopathological outcomes. Under the tested conditions, the oral groups showed more consistent changes in systemic indices, providing the basis for subsequent mechanistic analyses. Integrated transcriptomic and metabolomic analyses, targeted lipid-mediator profiling, and qRT-PCR identified coordinated changes in the arachidonic acid (AA) metabolic network. Exploratory docking and molecular dynamics provided descriptive computational support for target-dependent retention or reorientation of selected ligand-protein configurations, while tissue-level immunohistochemistry supported corresponding changes in selected AA pathway-associated, type 2 inflammatory, and epidermal-junction proteins. Together, these findings associate oral SIC supplementation with attenuation of AD-like inflammation and AA metabolic remodeling.