Photoaging and Glycation of Elastin : Effect on Skin

Introduction At anti-aging medical institutions, clinicians assess the degree of aging by determining functional ages, including muscular, vascular, neural, hormone and bone ages, while identifying risk factors for accelerated aging, such as immune stress, oxidative stress, mental and physiological stress, glycative stress and poor lifestyle 1, 2). Aging is accompanied by various degenerative changes of skin. The degree of skin aging is determined by assessing wrinkle age (increase in wrinkles), freckle age (freckles and discoloration), moisture age (decreased moisture retention), skin elasticity age (decreased skin elasticity) and glycation age (increased accumulation of advanced glycation end products [AGEs]). Photoaging (oxidative stress) has been reported to account for about 70% of the causes of skin aging 3), but it is increasingly overcome by the use of ultraviolet (UV) skin care and anti-oxidative products. Meanwhile, there is an increasing prevalence of lifestyle-related diseases, such as obesity and diabetes. These conditions are associated with high glycative stress 4 ) (Fig. 1). Glycative stress will become increasingly important as a nonphotoaging risk factor for skin aging. This article focuses primarily on the roles of elastin, a component protein of skin, in photoaging and glycative stress. Online edition : ISSN 2188-3610 Print edition : ISSN 2188-3602 Received : September 1, 2015 Accepted : October 10, 2015 Published online : December 31, 2015