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By Maria Azzurra Volpe
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Scientists have just found that a vitamin D-related supplement may be able to reverse one of the mechanisms associated with skin aging, providing a new target and strategy for intervention.
There is a layer of white fat directly under the skin known as subcutaneous adipose tissue (SAT), which serves many functions, including energy storage, thermal insulation, mechanical protection and the secretion of hormones that regulate metabolism.
However, as people age, SAT gradually declines and can even disappear, leading to sagging skin and deeper wrinkles on the face and limbs, impaired wound healing and compromised endocrine function.
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Until now, the mechanism underlying the aging-associated SAT loss have remained largely unclear. However, a team of researchers led by Professor Chuanmao Zhang set out to investigate the reason behind this loss and found that vitamin D receptor (VDR) signaling was involved.
The researchers treated mice with Hutchinson-Gilford progeria syndrome (HGPS), a rare condition that causes the rapid appearance of signs of aging, with calcipotriol, a drug that activates the vitamin D receptor (VDR).
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The study found that, in both natural aging and HGPS, SAT decline was caused by fewer adipocytes rather than a reduction in adipocyte size. The study also demonstrated that adipogenesis, the biological process that turns cells into mature fat cells, was enabled by VDR deficiency.
Moreover, the findings suggest that supplementation with the VDR agonist calcipotriol counteracted VDR deficiency, rescued SAT loss, and even extended the lifespan of HGPS mice.
The findings could have implications for future research into skin aging, as maintaining the fat beneath the skin may help address changes associated with its loss.
Dr. Debra Jaliman, a board-certified dermatologist and clinical assistant professor at Mount Sinai, told Newsweek that while reversing subcutaneous fat loss could matter a great deal for restoring facial volume, the benefit would depend on where the fat is reversed, not only how much there is.
"In an aging face there is greater fat in certain areas of the face. For example, under the chin, the jowls, the neck, and the lower face. This is because the fat is moving down," she said.
Jaliman also explained that there is no demonstrated fat-restoration benefit from correcting a vitamin D deficiency, or from increasing vitamin D above normal.
"Trials of ordinary vitamin D in older adults have not demonstrated increased fat or restoration of fat lost from age. The studies were not dedicated studies of facial or dermal fat regeneration."
Moreover, she emphasized that vitamin D supplements are different from activating VDR with calcipotriol.
“Vitamin D has to be converted twice, first in the liver to 25(OH)D and then mainly in the kidney to 1,25(OH)₂D3, before it can activate VDR,” she explained.
"Mouse anti-aging findings are possible to be helpful in humans but not evidence of a benefit in humans. Interventions that work in mice often fail in clinical trials."
Dr. Erik Peterson of the Flatiron Institute of Dermatologic and Cosmetic Surgery added that mouse skin is thinner, heals differently, and lab mice live a couple of years, far from decades in the sun.
"Plenty of things work beautifully in mice and fizzle in people. I'd want to see it in human skin, at a safe dose, before anyone buys anything," he told Newsweek.
"Take vitamin D if a blood test says you're low, but don't expect it to refill your face. Sunscreen, a retinoid and a dermatologist who checks your skin are still the proven plan. This one is worth watching, and too early to buy," he added.
Reference:
Zhang et al. Counteracting vitamin D receptor signaling deficiency rescues subcutaneous adipose loss in aging.
DOI:10.1093/procel/pwag045
Contact Newsweek editors on this story: Kara Dolman and Paul Donnelley.
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