Tissue oxygenation: two opposite approaches to reach a valuable anti-aging effect

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  • September 21, 2015
  • 2 minutes of read time

Tissue oxygenation: two opposite approaches to reach a valuable anti-aging effect

Laetitia Cattuzzato, Elodie Gonçalves, Eric Perez, Gaëlle Vincent, Sandy Dumont

2015, 23rd IFSCC conference

Oxygen is an indispensable element for life, without which the production of energy inside the cell mitochondria would not be possible. Oxygen represents also a threat to human skin, leading to the production of reactive oxygen species (ROS). These radicals are able to react with different cell components (lipids, proteins, DNA), inducing damages at cellular level, that have a long term impact on tissue structure. These damages are responsible for the appearance of ageing signs, such as wrinkles, sagging,... Thus, oxygen has to be well balanced into the skin to preserve excessive skin aging. The commonly used strategy is to scavenge ROS newly formed into the skin with quenching molecules. However, other opposite, but complementary, approaches can be used: the induction of an hypoxic stress and the improvement of tissue oxygenation. Hypoxia is a state where the level of oxygen in a tissue is under the basal one. It results in a defense strategy adopted by the cells and mediated by the transcription factor HIF1a, acting as an oxygen sensor. Thus, we demonstrated that a mineral cocktail was able to improve mitochondrial respiration (in vitro model) while giving a protection against free radicals production (in tubo methods - O2-, OH-).

Moreover it increases cellular metabolism (protein, DNA, pyruvate and ATP production) and particularly the production of type I pro-collagen in senescent cells, as well as a decrease in AGE (Advanced Glycation End products) formation in human fibroblasts. Furthermore, this mineral cocktail showed a visible anti-ageing effect on human volunteers (fringe projection) and revealed an improvement of skin oxygenation (O2 and CO2 partial pressures measurements with radiometer). Concerning the second anti-ageing strategy, we demonstrated, by different and complementary approaches, that a bioactive complex from marine origin was able to mimic an hypoxic stress. Indeed it upregulated HIF1a gene expression to induce long term benefits such as catalase overexpression (validated both with transcriptomic and immunohistochemistry experiences on human skin explants). Furthermore, this marine ingredient showed a visible anti-ageing effect on human volunteers (fringe projection) and a protective effect against ROS generation directly on human volunteers (ROS scavenging capacity measurements). To conclude, two different and opposite strategies can be used to reach anti-aging benefits, regulating ROS production inside the skin. In the future more precise investigations of the mitochondrial behavior would be useful to understand better the underlying regulations.

Seppic, Innovation Direction, 127 Chemin de la Poudrerie, B.P.90228 - 81105 Castres Cedex, France