Effect of Konjac Glucomannan (KGM) on the Reconstitution of the Dermal Environment against UVB-Induced Condition.

Kyung Ho Choi,Bum Ho Bin,Phil June Park,Sung Tae Kim

doi:10.3390/nu12092779

Kyung Ho Choi, Bum Ho Bin + Show 2 more

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https://doi.org/10.3390/nu12092779

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Abstract

Skin layers serve as a barrier against unexpected critical changes in the body due to environmental factors. Excessive ultraviolet (UV) B exposure increases the levels of age-related factors, leading to senescent cells and damaged skin tissues. Widely used as a dietary supplement, konjac (Amorphophallus konjac) glucomannan (KGM) has shown skin regeneration potential in patch or sheet form with anti-inflammatory or immunosuppressive effects. However, the ability of KGM to reconstitute senescent/damaged skin following UV radiation has not been explored. Here, we demonstrate that KGM alleviates skin damage by increasing the proportion of young cell populations in UVB-exposed senescent human epidermal primary melanocytes. Young cell numbers increased depending on KGM dosage, but the senescent cells were not removed. Real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR) and Western blot analysis showed that mRNA and protein levels of age- and pigmentation-related factors decreased in a manner dependent on the rate at which new cells were generated. Moreover, an analysis of mRNA and protein levels indicated that KGM facilitated youth by increasing cell proliferation in UVB-damaged human fibroblasts. Thus, KGM is a highly effective natural agent for maintaining skin homeostasis by promoting the reconstitution of the dermal environment against UVB-induced acute senescence or skin damage.

Highlights

The human skin, comprising almost 16% of the body, maintains a certain level of physiological and biological function to ensure that the various skin cells beyond the dermis layer are preserved to form a solid barrier [1,2,3]
human epidermal primary melanocytes (HEMns) were cultured with Medium 254 (M254; Life Technologies) supplemented with human melanocyte growth supplement (Life Technologies), and human embryonic fibroblasts (HEFs) were cultured in Dulbecco’s modified Eagle medium (Thermo Fisher Scientific, Waltham, MA, USA) with 5% fetal bovine serum (Thermo Fisher Scientific) in a humidified incubator under 5% CO2 conditions
After confirming that konjac glucomannan (KGM)-dependent cell growth promotion induced anti-pigmentation in UVB-induced accelerated senescence in HEMns, we investigated whether this restorative function of KGM was universally applicable to human skin cells using HEFs, a key model for UV

Summary

Introduction

The human skin, comprising almost 16% of the body, maintains a certain level of physiological and biological function (homeostasis) to ensure that the various skin cells beyond the dermis layer are preserved to form a solid barrier [1,2,3]. The epidermis layer of the skin is a critical component for maintaining the physiological functions of the body in the face of various external environmental changes as well as internal factors [4,5,6,7]. Among the diverse external factors that cause changes in the skin, ultraviolet radiation (UVR) is a well-known major contributor to human skin aging acceleration by inducing DNA damage (photoaging) or oncogene activation [8,9,10]. Skin aging caused by long-term UVB exposure cannot be reverted to normal homeostatic conditions, and the accumulated damage can activate aging-related factors even upon exposure to weak stimuli. Accelerated aging-related factors can increase the chance of forming abnormal cell clusters, leading to critical pathological conditions such as melanoma [14,15,16]

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