Department of Dermatology, XiangYa Hospital, Central South University, Changsha, Hunan, China.
Australas J Dermatol. 2010 May;51(2):106-12. doi: 10.1111/j.1440-0960.2010.00629.x.
BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES: Aquaporin 3 (AQP3) is a protein implicated in skin hydration. AQP3 null mice have relatively dry skin, reduced skin elasticity, and delayed recovery of barrier function after removal of the stratum corneum which is also present in skin of old people. A feature of skin aging is the change in both water content and barrier function of the skin. We investigated the expression of aquaporin 3 in non sun-exposed human skin, normal human keratinocytes and fibroblasts from different age groups to further understand the relationship between AQP3 and intrinsic skin aging.
We investigated the expression of aquaporin3 (AQP3) in normal human skin, normal human epidermal keratinocytes (NHEK) and skin fibroblast of different ages by immunohistochemistry, immunocytochemistry, the reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) and western blotting. The samples were derived from 60 patients of varying ages: <20 years of age, 30-45 years and >60 years of age. Twenty skin biopsies, 6 for keratinocyte/fibroblast cultures, were taken from each age group.
AQP3 decreased with increasing age in both skin and NHEK samples. We demonstrated significant differences in AQP3 expression between the 3 age groups (P < 0.05). In fibroblasts, AQP3 expression levels were significantly lower in the >60 year olds compared to 30-45 year olds (P < 0.05) and <20 year olds (P < 0.05), there was no significant difference between the two younger groups (P > 0.05).
AQP3 may be involved in the intrinsic aging process of non sun-exposed human skin.
背景/目的：水通道蛋白 3（AQP3）是一种与皮肤水合作用有关的蛋白质。AQP3 缺失的小鼠皮肤相对干燥，皮肤弹性降低，角质层去除后屏障功能恢复延迟，而老年人的皮肤也存在这种情况。皮肤老化的一个特征是皮肤的含水量和屏障功能都发生了变化。我们研究了非曝光人体皮肤、不同年龄组的正常人类表皮角质形成细胞（NHEK）和皮肤成纤维细胞中 aquaporin 3 的表达，以进一步了解 AQP3 与内在皮肤老化的关系。
我们通过免疫组织化学、免疫细胞化学、逆转录-聚合酶链反应（RT-PCR）和 Western blot 法研究了不同年龄正常人体皮肤、正常人类表皮角质形成细胞（NHEK）和成纤维细胞中 aquaporin3（AQP3）的表达。这些样本来自 60 名不同年龄的患者：<20 岁、30-45 岁和>60 岁。从每个年龄组中采集了 20 个皮肤活检样本，6 个用于角质形成细胞/成纤维细胞培养。
AQP3 在皮肤和 NHEK 样本中的表达均随年龄的增长而降低。我们发现在 3 个年龄组之间 AQP3 表达存在显著差异（P<0.05）。在成纤维细胞中，与 30-45 岁年龄组和<20 岁年龄组相比，>60 岁年龄组的 AQP3 表达水平显著降低（P<0.05），<20 岁年龄组与 30-45 岁年龄组之间无显著差异（P>0.05）。
AQP3 可能参与了非曝光人体皮肤的内在老化过程。
