Regulation of activated genes of fibroblasts and their improvement of skin aging

Abstract

Objective To investigate the possible mechanisms using different chemicals to improve the skin aging by the effect of estrogen,vitamin E,vitamin C on the transcriptional level of MMP-1 and HAS-2 mRNAs in cultured human skin fibroblast in vitro.Methods The different concentrations of estrogen,vitamin E,vitamin C were put into cultured human skin fibroblasts.After 24 hours,RT-PCR was used to detect the effects of the different chemicals on the transcriptional levels of the HAS-2 and MMP-1 mRNAs in fibroblasts.Results The effects of estrogen and vitamin C on the MMP-1 mRNA had significant difference between the high dose group and blank control group,and between the low dose group and blank control group (P＜0.05) ; the difference between the low dose group and high dose group was not statistically significant (P＞0.05).The effects of vitamin E and vitamin C on Has-2 mRNA also had significant difference between the high dose group and the blank control group,and between the low dose group and blank control group (P＜0.05),but the difference between the low dose group and high dose group was not statistically significant (P＞0.05).Conclusions Estrogen and vitamin C can reduce the transcription of MMP-1 gene,which decreases the degradation of collagen in the skin; vitamin E and vitamin C can increase the transcription of HAS-2 gene,which may possibly increase the synthesis of hyaluronic acid to alleviate the skin aging. Key words: Matrix metalloproteinase-1 (MMP-1); Hyaluronic acid synthetase-2 (HAS-2); Fibroblast; Skin aging