COMPARISON OF THE BIOMECHANICAL AND BIOSYNTHETIC BEHAVIOR OF NORMAL HUMAN FIBROBLASTS AND FIBROBLASTS ISSUE FROM A FOREHEAD WRINKLE

The wrinkles correspond to the most obvious expression of skin ageing and are manifested by changes on the organization and dermal structure. In the extracellular matrix, decreased quantities of collagens and glycosaminoglycans as well as a deterioration of the fibrillary network is noted, result in a reduction of dermal thickness. In addition, the activity of the collagenases increases in contrast to the synthesis of collagen fibers. Nor are cells spared during the aging process. We thus studied and compared the contractile capacity as well as the synthesis capacity of normal human fibroblasts and human fibroblasts obtained from biopsies of forehead wrinkles. The capacity of the fibroblasts to be adhered to the collagen network and to maintain a three-dimensional structure of dermis was studied on a model of equivalent dermis. The metabolic activity was studied by evaluating the capacities of synthesis of collagen I, main component of dermis. Human fibroblasts resulting from the forehead wrinkle contract less the gel of collagen than the normal human fibroblasts and present an activity of biosynthesis of collagen I less important than normal human fibroblasts. These results show that fibroblasts with aging present a deceleration of their metabolic activity and lose their capacity of adhesion to collagen fibers thus limiting the possibility of organizing the dermal tissue. We investigated the potential of an active ingredient able to compensate for the reduction of the metabolic activity and to restore the contractile capacity of fibroblasts obtained from forehead wrinkles. This effect was compared with a reference molecule: the vitamin C.