Skin aging and photoaging alter fatty acids composition, including 11,14,17-eicosatrienoic acid, in the epidermis of human skin.

We investigated the alterations of major fatty acid components in epidermis by natural aging and photoaging processes, and by acute ultraviolet (UV) irradiation in human skin. Interestingly, we found that 11,14,17-eicosatrienoic acid (ETA), which is one of the omega-3 polyunsaturated acids, was significantly increased in photoaged human epidermis in vivo and also in the acutely UV-irradiated human skin in vivo, while it was significantly decreased in intrinsically aged human epidermis. The increased ETA content in the epidermis of photoaged human skin and acute UV-irradiated human skin is associated with enhanced expression of human elongase 1 and calcium-independent phosphodiesterase A(2). We demonstrated that ETA inhibited matrix metalloproteinase (MMP)-1 expression after UV-irradiation, and that inhibition of ETA synthesis using EPTC and NA-TCA, which are elongase inhibitors, increased MMP-1 expression. Therefore, our results suggest that the UV increases the ETA levels, which may have a photoprotective effect in the human skin.