Abstract
Autophagy is a membrane traffic system that provides sustainable degradation of cellular components for homeostasis, and is thus considered to promote health and longevity, though its activity declines with aging. The present findings show deterioration of autophagy in association with premature skin aging. Autophagy flux was successfully determined in skin tissues, which demonstrated significantly decreased autophagy in hyperpigmented skin such as that seen in senile lentigo. Furthermore, an exacerbated decline in autophagy was confirmed in xerotic hyperpigmentation areas, accompanied by severe dehydration and a barrier defect, which showed correlations with skin physiological conditions. The enhancement of autophagy in skin ex vivo ameliorated skin integrity, including pigmentation and epidermal differentiation. The present results indicate that the restoration of autophagy can contribute to improving premature skin aging by various intrinsic and extrinsic factors via the normalization of protein homeostasis.
Highlights
Autophagy is a natural membrane traffic system related to the degradation of unnecessary cellular components, occurring in all cells in the body, and is known to have an essential role in providing fresh cellular components through protein recycling as well as other diverse functions [1,2]
We investigated the involvement of autophagic deficiency in hyperpigmentation
Based on the significant differences seen in regard to epidermal keratinocytes, we focused on keratinocyte autophagy in the regulation of melanosome degradation, as well as epidermal differentiation
Summary
Autophagy (literally “self-eating”) is a natural membrane traffic system related to the degradation of unnecessary cellular components, occurring in all cells in the body, and is known to have an essential role in providing fresh cellular components through protein recycling as well as other diverse functions [1,2]. In addition to intrinsic aging, skin is highly susceptible to tissue damage, as represented by pigment spots, wrinkles and sagging in elderly individuals, due to its continuous exposure to external stimuli. Most of those effects are accelerated by environmental factors, such as ultraviolet (UV) light, with the result known as photoaging. Transient but repeatable skin damage can accumulate and cause chronic changes in skin, which are characterized by various phenotypic conditions including xerosis, eczema and post-inflammatory pigmentation, as well as others
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