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BACKGROUND: Elastin is a fibrous protein key to the structure and support of skin as well as other organ tissues. Elastic fibers are located in the skin’s dermal layer and make up approximately 2%–4% of the fat-free dry weight of the dermis in the skin of adults. Aging causes the progressive degradation of elastin fibers. Loss of these fibers can cause skin sagging and wrinkling, loss of healthy blood vessels and lung capacity, aneurysms, and Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD). OBJECTIVE: We hypothesized that ellagic acid, a polyphenol, will increase elastin in human dermal fibroblasts (HDF) due to polyphenols’ elastin binding properties. METHOD: We treated HDF’s with 2 μg/ml ellagic acid for 28 days to see the elastin deposition in HDF cell cultures. To test this, we treated HDFs with polyphenols ellagic acid for 3, 7, 14 and 21 days. For comparison purposes, we included a group of ellagic acid and retinoic acid since retinoic acid is already in the market for elastin regeneration purposes. RESULTS: When ellagic acid and retinoic acid were introduced together, insoluble elastin and collagen deposition were significantly higher in HDFs compared to other groups. CONCLUSION: Polyphenols and retinoic acid can improve skin extracellular matrix production of elastin and collagen and may improve skin fine wrinkles.
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Second Harmonic Generation Imaging Reveals Entanglement of Collagen Fibers in the Elephant Trunk Skin Dermis
Abstract Form-function relationships often have tradeoffs: if a material is tough, it is often inflexible, and vice versa. This is particularly relevant for the elephant trunk, where the skin should be protective yet elastic. To investigate how this is achieved, we used classical histochemical staining and second harmonic generation microscopy to describe the morphology and composition of elephant trunk skin. We report structure at the macro and micro scales, from the thickness of the dermis to the interaction of 10μm thick collagen fibers. We analyzed several sites along the length of the trunk, to compare and contrast the dorsal-ventral and proximal-distal skin morphologies and compositions. We find the dorsal skin of the elephant trunk can have keratin armor layers over 2mm thick, which is nearly 100 times the thickness of the equivalent layer in human skin. We also found that the structural support layer (the dermis) of elephant trunk contains a distribution of collagen-I (COL1) fibers in both perpendicular and parallel arrangement. The bimodal distribution of collagen is seen across all portions of the trunk, and is dissimilar from that of human skin where one orientation dominates within a body site. We hypothesize that this distribution of COL1 in the elephant trunk allows both flexibility and load-bearing capabilities. Additionally, when viewing individual fiber interaction of 10μm thick collagen, we find the fiber crossings per unit volume are five times more common than in human skin, suggesting that the fibers are entangled. We surmise that these intriguing structures permit both flexibility and strength in the elephant trunk. The complex nature of the elephant skin may inspire the design of materials that can combine strength and flexibility.
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- PAR ID:
- 10537434
- Publisher / Repository:
- bioRxiv
- Date Published:
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Institution:
- bioRxiv
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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- Free Publicly Accessible Full Text
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Accepted Manuscript
- Posted Content:
- https://doi.org/10.1101/2023.08.11.553031
