Ultraviolet irradiation induces the accumulation of chondroitin sulfate, but not other glycosaminoglycans, in human skin.

Ultraviolet (UV) light alters cutaneous structure and function. Prior work has shown loss of dermal hyaluronan after UV-irradiation of human skin, yet UV exposure increases total glycosaminoglycan (GAG) content in mouse models. To more fully describe UV-induced alterations to cutaneous GAG content, we subjected human volunteers to intermediate-term (5 doses/week for 4 weeks) or single-dose UV exposure. Total dermal uronyl-containing GAGs increased substantially with each of these regimens. We found that UV exposure substantially increased dermal content of chondroitin sulfate (CS), but not hyaluronan, heparan sulfate, or dermatan sulfate. UV induced the accumulation of both the 4-sulfated (C4S) and 6-sulfated (C6S) isoforms of CS, but in distinct distributions. Next, we examined several CS proteoglycan core proteins and found a significant accumulation of dermal and endothelial serglycin, but not of decorin or versican, after UV exposure. To examine regulation in vitro, we found that UVB in combination with IL-1α, a cytokine upregulated by UV radiation, induced serglycin mRNA in cultured dermal fibroblasts, but did not induce the chondroitin sulfate synthases. Overall, our data indicate that intermediate-term and single-dose UVB exposure induces specific GAGs and proteoglycan core proteins in human skin in vivo. These molecules have important biologic functions and contribute to the cutaneous response to UV.