Assessment of efficacy of carboxytherapy in management of skin aging through evaluation of gene expression profile: a 2-split randomized clinical trial

Skin aging is a continuous and irreversible process which results in impairment of the skin role as barrier against all aggressive exogenous factors. It mainly manifests by photoaging, laxity, sagging, wrinkling, and xerosis. Carboxytherapy is considered as a safe, minimally invasive modality used for rejuvenation, restoration, and recondition of the skin. In the current study, the efficacy of carboxytherapy in the treatment of skin aging was assessed through investigation of gene expression profile for Coll I, Coll III, Coll IV, elastin, FGF, TGF-β1, and VEGF. Our study is a 2-split clinical trial in which carboxytherapy was performed on one side of the abdomen in 15 cases with intrinsically skin aging manifestations weekly for 10 sessions, while the other side of the abdomen was left without treatment. Two weeks after the last session, skin biopsies were taken from both the treated and control sides of the abdomen in order to assess gene expression profile by qRT-PCR. The analysis of gene expression levels for all of Coll I, Coll III, Coll IV, elastin, TGF-β1, FGF and VEGF genes showed a statistically significant difference between the interventional and control groups. The findings for all of these seven genes showed increase in the interventional group, among which Coll IV, VEGF, FGF, and elastin showed the higher mean changes. Our study confirmed the effectiveness of carboxytherapy in treating and reversing the intrinsically aging skin.Clinical Trial Registration Code and Date of Registration: ChiCTR2200055185; 2022/1/2.

No Causal Association between 25-Hydroxyvitamin D and Features of Skin Aging: Evidence from a Bidirectional Mendelian Randomization Study

Data from in vitro experiments suggest that vitamin D reduces the rate of skin aging, whereas population studies suggest the opposite, most likely due to confounding by UV exposure. We investigated whether there are causal associations between 25-hydroxyvitamin D concentrations and features of skin aging in a bidirectional Mendelian randomization study. In the Rotterdam Study (N = 3,831; 58.2% women, median age 66.5 years) and Leiden Longevity Study (N = 661; 50.5% women, median age 63.1 years), facial skin aging features (perceived age, wrinkling, pigmented spots) were assessed either manually or digitally. Associations between 25-hydroxyvitamin D and skin aging features were tested by multivariable linear regression. Mendelian randomization analyses were performed using single nucleotide polymorphisms identified from previous genome-wide association studies. After meta-analysis of the two cohorts, we observed that higher serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D was associated with a higher perceived age (P-value = 3.6 × 10^-7), more skin wrinkling (P-value = 2.6 × 10^-16), but not with more pigmented spots (P-value = 0.30). In contrast, a genetically determined 25-hydroxyvitamin D concentration was not associated with any skin aging feature (P-values > 0.05). Furthermore, a genetically determined higher degree of pigmented spots was not associated with higher 25-hydroxyvitamin D (P-values > 0.05). Our study did not indicate that associations between 25-hydroxyvitamin D and features of skin aging are causal.

Both low circulating insulin-like growth factor-1 and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol are associated with hair loss in middle-aged women

BACKGROUND

Multiple biomarkers have been associated with hair loss in women, but studies have shown inconsistent results.

OBJECTIVES

We investigated the associations between markers of cardiovascular disease risk (e.g. serum lipid levels and hypertension) and ageing [e.g. 25-hydroxyvitamin D and insulin-like growth factor (IGF)] with hair loss in a population of middle-aged women.

METHODS

In a random subgroup of 323 middle-aged women (mean age 61·5 years) from the Leiden Longevity Study, hair loss was graded by three assessors using the Sinclair scale; women with a mean score > 1·5 were classified as cases with hair loss.

RESULTS

Every 1 SD increase in high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol was associated with a 0·65-times lower risk [95% confidence interval (CI) 0·46-0·91] of hair loss. For IGF-1 the risk was 0·68 times lower (95% CI 0·48-0·97) per 1 SD increase, independently of the other studied variables. Women with both IGF-1 and HDL cholesterol levels below the medians of the study population had a 3·47-times higher risk (95% CI 1·30-9·25) of having hair loss.

CONCLUSIONS

Low HDL cholesterol and IGF-1 were associated with a higher risk of hair loss in women. However, further studies are required to infer causal relationships.