How aging impacts skin biomechanics: A multiscale study in mice

Barbara Lynch, Christelle Bonod-Bidaud, Guillaume Ducourthial, Jean-Sébastien Affagard, Stéphane Bancelin, Sotiris Psilodimitrakopoulos, Florence Ruggiero, Jean-Marc Allain, Marie-Claire Schanne-Klein
Sci Rep. 2017-10-23; 7(1):
DOI: 10.1038/s41598-017-13150-4

PubMed
Lire sur PubMed



Lynch B(1), Bonod-Bidaud C(2), Ducourthial G(3), Affagard JS(1)(4), Bancelin S(3), Psilodimitrakopoulos S(3), Ruggiero F(5), Allain JM(6)(7), Schanne-Klein MC(8).

Author information:
(1)LMS, Ecole Polytechnique, CNRS, Université Paris-Saclay, Palaiseau, France.
(2)Institut de Génomique Fonctionnelle de Lyon, ENS-Lyon, CNRS UMR 5242, Université de Lyon, Lyon, France.
(3)LOB, Ecole Polytechnique, CNRS, Inserm, Université Paris-Saclay, Palaiseau, France.
(4)Inria, Université Paris-Saclay, Palaiseau, France.
(5)Institut de Génomique Fonctionnelle de Lyon, ENS-Lyon, CNRS UMR 5242, Université de Lyon, Lyon, France. .
(6)LMS, Ecole Polytechnique, CNRS, Université Paris-Saclay, Palaiseau, France.
(7)Inria, Université Paris-Saclay, Palaiseau, France. .
(8)LOB, Ecole Polytechnique, CNRS, Inserm, Université Paris-Saclay, Palaiseau, France.

Skin aging is a complex process that strongly affects the mechanical behavior of
skin. This study aims at deciphering the relationship between age-related changes
in dermis mechanical behavior and the underlying changes in dermis
microstructure. To that end, we use multiphoton microscopy to monitor the
reorganization of dermal collagen during mechanical traction assays in ex vivo
skin from young and old mice. The simultaneous variations of a full set of
mechanical and microstructural parameters are analyzed in the framework of a
multiscale mechanical interpretation. They show consistent results for wild-type
mice as well as for genetically-modified mice with modified collagen V synthesis.
We mainly observe an increase of the tangent modulus and a lengthening of the
heel region in old murine skin from all strains, which is attributed to two
different origins that may act together: (i) increased cross-linking of collagen
fibers and (ii) loss of water due to proteoglycans deterioration, which impedes
inner sliding within these fibers. In contrast, the microstructure reorganization
upon stretching shows no age-related difference, which can be attributed to
opposite effects of the decrease of collagen content and of the increase of
collagen cross-linking in old mice.

 

Auteurs Bordeaux Neurocampus