Morphological Studies on the Inhibitory Effects of Photoaging Skin of Fermented Red Ginseng in Hairless Mice

Abstract

To investigate the anti-photoaging effect of fermented Red Ginseng(RG) in SKH-1 mice. We examined the effects of extracts of non-fermented RG(NRG group), fermented RG(FRG group) and fortified fermented RG(FFRG group) on skin wrinkles formation, histological changes related to the number of epidermal cell layers, epidermal thickness, neutrophil infiltration into dermis, degradation of collagen fibers, and the number of mast cells, and immunohistochemical changes related to cytokines and enzymes in photoaging skin caused by UVB irradiation of SKH-1 mice. The oral administration(300 ㎎/㎏ B.W./day) and topical application(100 ㎕/mouse/day) of extracts of NRG, FRG and FFRG inhibited increases in epidermal thickness and wrinkle formation compared to control group in dorsal skin induced by UVB irradiation. We observed more increased stainability of acid fuschin and aniline blue in dermis of FFRG group than those of other groups. Furthermore, NRG, FRG and FFRG prevented the disruption of collagen fibers within papillary layer of dermis, and decreased number of mast cells in the dorsal skins induced by UVB irradiation. We observed fine wrinkle formation in FFRG group. Treatment with NRG, FRG and FFRG decreased immunohistochemical density of myeloperoxidase related to inflammation in the photoaging skin. We observed more decreased immunohistochemical density of myeloperoxidase in FFRG group than those of other groups. Immunohistochemical density of PCNA and Ki-67 in FFRG group was more decreased than those of other groups. Our study suggests that fermented red ginseng extracts participates in inhibitory effects in the morphological processes related to photoaging skin on UVB irradiated SKH-1 mice.