[Photoaging of face]

Topical effects of SCA® (Cryptomphalus aspersa secretion) associated with regenerative and antioxidant ingredients on aged skin: evaluation by confocal and clinical microscopy

Purpose

This was an open-label, single-center clinical study to evaluate a topical association of SCA^® (Cryptomphalus aspersa secretion) with regenerative and antioxidant ingredients, according to the type and area of the face, on the improvement of signs of skin aging.

Patients and methods

One hundred and twenty female participants aged between 40 and 65 years, with facial aging complaints (presence of static, dynamics wrinkles, loss of elasticity, and skin firmness) were randomized into two groups according to the type of skin: normal–oily and normal–dry, and 40 participants were randomized for evaluation of the periocular area (with the presence of wrinkles, expression lines, and dark circles) with both types of skin. The groups received serum for normal–oily skin, a cream for normal–dry skin, and a cream for periocular and eyelid skin (eye area). All the participants were evaluated by a dermatologist and submitted to hydration evaluation by corneometry, elasticity and firmness measures complementarily, and images were collected in confocal reflectance microscopy.

Results

Topical skin treatment with the association of SCA with antioxidant ingredients (green coffee oil, olive oil, ectoine, hyaluronic acid, and peptides) was able to promote significant clinical and subjective improvement of all signs of skin aging. This improvement was presented at the epidermal level, with improved hydration levels measured by corneometry and epidermal thickness, and at the dermal level, with improvement of the firmness and elasticity parameters, measured by cutometry, from 45 days of use.

Conclusion

All the evaluated topical formulations seemed to be an effective alternative for the progressive treatment of signs of skin aging, since they demonstrate a real improvement of dermal–epidermal structure and function with high safety margin for long-term use.

MALAT1 participates in ultraviolet B-induced photo-aging via regulation of the ERK/MAPK signaling pathway

Long non-coding RNA (lncRNA), transcripts of >200 bp in length that do not appear to exhibit any coding capacity, are important in the occurrence and development of cancer, cardiovascular and neurological diseases. However, effects of lncRNAs on photo-aging remain to be elucidated. To explore the potential effects of the lncRNA metastasis-associated lung adenocarcinoma transcript 1 (MALAT1) on photo-aging in fibroblasts, MALAT1 expression was silenced in fibroblasts using small interference RNA. Reverse transcription-quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR) was used to examine MALAT1 expression in normal and silenced fibroblasts following irradiation with 60 mJ/cm² ultraviolet B (UVB) and an ELISA assay was used to identify matrix metalloproteinase-1 (MMP-1) content in the cellular supernatant. A β-galactosidase kit was applied to measure the number of senescent cells and a western blot assay was used to detect extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK), c-Jun N-terminal kinase (JNK) and p38 phosphorylation levels. RT-qPCR was additionally used to detect changes in MALAT1 expression following suppression of UVB-induced reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation with N-acetyl-L-cysteine (NAC). Fibroblasts irradiated with 60 mJ/cm² UVB demonstrated increased MALAT1 expression, MMP-1 secretory volume and number of senescent cells, and greater levels of ERK, p38 and JNK phosphorylation. Following silencing of MALAT1 expression in photo-aged fibroblasts, decreases were observed in MMP-1 secretory volume, number of senescent cells and phosphorylation levels of ERK. NAC reduced ROS content, however, it did not affect MALAT1 expression. Therefore, it was concluded that MALAT1 may participate in UVB-induced photo-aging via regulation of the ERK/mitogen-activated protein kinase signaling pathway and UVB-induced MALAT1 expression is independent of ROS generation.