As we age, our skin naturally becomes thinner and more fragile due to a decrease in cell production, but now researchers have discovered that vitamin C can help counteract this aging process.
Using a 3D human skin model, they showed that vitamin C increases epidermal thickness by activating genes linked to cell growth through DNA dissectilation. These findings, published online in the Research Dermatology Magazinesuggest that vitamin C can help prevent the thinning of the skin related to age and support a healthier and stronger skin in aging individuals.
The skin acts as the first line of defense of the body against external threats. However, as we age, the epidermis, the outermost layer of the skin, becomes thinner and loses its protective resistance. About 90% of the cells in this layer are keratinocytes, which originate in deeper layers of the epidermis and migrate upwards, ultimately forming the protective barrier of the skin. To combat the impact of skin aging, numerous studies have emphasized the benefits of vitamin C, a vitamin well known for its role in skin health and antioxidant properties.
Researchers in Japan have discovered that vitamin C helps to thicken the skin directly activating the genes that control the growth and development of skin cells. Its findings suggest that vitamin C can restore skin function by reactivation of essential genes for epidermal renewal.
“[Vitamin C] It seems to influence the structure and function of the epidermis, especially controlling the growth of epidermal cells. In this study, we investigate if it promotes the proliferation and cell differentiation through epigenetic changes, “says Akihito Ishigami, PHD, vice president of the Biology and Medical Sciences Division of Tokyo, WhoT Stunoty, in Geriatrue for Geriatrotue for GeriTrototue for Geriatrotue for Geriatrotue. Geriastute for Geriatrue.
How vitamin C affects skin regeneration
To investigate how vitamin C affects skin regeneration, the equipment used human epidermal equivalent, which are laboratory cultivated models that closely mimic real human skin. In this model, skin cells are exposed to the air on the surface while feeding from under a medium of liquid nutrients, replicating the way human skin receives nutrients from the underlying blood vessels while tracing the external environment.
The researchers used this model and applied vitamin C to the concentrations of 1.0 and 0.1 mm, comparable to those typically transported from the bloodstream to the epidermis. When evaluating its effect, they found that the skin treated with vitamin C showed a layer of thicker epidermal cells without significantly affecting the stratum corneum (the outer layer composed of dead cells) on day seven.
By day 14, the inner layer was simply thicker, and it was discovered that the outer layer was thinner, a suggestion that vitamin C promises the formation and division of keratinocytes. Samples treated with vitamin C showed greater cell proliferation, demonstrated by a higher or positive cell protein marker present in the nucleus of the activity dividing cells.
It is important to highlight that the study revealed that vitamin C helps the skin cells to grow by reactivation of genes associated with cell proliferation. It does it by promoting the elimination of Methyl Groups of DNA, in a process known as DNA dissectilation. When DNA gets, the methyl groups join the cytosine bases, which can prevent DNA from transcribing or read, therefore, the activity of the suppression gene. On the contrary, due to the dissectilation of the DNA of promotion, vitamin C promotes gene expression and helps cells grow, multiply and differentiate.
The study suggests that vitamin C supports the dissectilation of active DNA by maintaining the function of tet enzymes (ten strikers translocation enzymes), which regulate gene activity. These enzymes convert the 5-methylcitosine (5-MC) into 5-hydroxymethylychythosin (5-HMC), a process in which faith faith2+ oxidize to faith3+. Vitamin C helps maintain the enzymatic activity doning electrons to regenerate faith2+ Of faith3+Enabling the continuous dissectilation of DNA.
Unleashing genetic pathways for growth and repair
The researchers also identified more than 10,138 hypomethyl methylated methylated regions in the skin treated with vitamin C and observed an increase of 1.6 to 75.2 times in the expression of 12 key genes related to key proliferation. When a TET enzyme inhibitor was applied, these effects were invested, confirming that vitamin C works through DNA dissectilation mediated by TET.
These findings reveal how vitamin C promotes skin renewal by triggering genetic paths involved in growth and repair. This suggests that vitamin C can be particularly useful for older adults or for those with damaged or thinned skin, which increases the natural capacity of the skin to regenerate and strengthen it in itself.
“We find that [vitamin C] It helps to swell the skin by encouraging the proliferation of keratinocytes through DNA dissectilation, so it is a promising treatment to lose weight the skin, especially in older adults, “says Ishigami in a release.
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