Anti-aging effect of stromal vascular fractions in photoaging skin

AIM: To investigate the anti-aging effect of the stromal vascular fractions (SVF) injection in photo-aging skin of nude rats. METHODS: Six-week-old nude rats were divided into control group and photoaging group. The nude rats in photoaging group were continuously irradiated with ultraviolet B (UVB) for 8 weeks to build the photoaging skin model, and were randomly divided into placebo group, and low-dose (LD), middle-dose (MD) and high-dose (HD) SVF treatment groups. The human SVF was obtained by trypsin digestion from the adipose tissue in healthy females, and was subcutaneously injected into the back skin of photoaging nude rats in LD, MD and HD SVF treatment groups (10⁴,10⁵ and 10⁶ cells in 100 μL suspension, respectively). The animals in photoaging skin model group were treated with placebo. Control group did not have any intervention. The changes in the thickness of epidermis and histology after 7 d and the thickness of the dermis and histology after 28 d were examined. RESULTS: The thickness of the epidermis was thinner in MD and HD SVF treatment groups than that in photoaging skin model group after 7 d (P<0.05). The percentage of stratum corneum and the abnormal proliferation of the epidermal basal cell layer were reduced (P<0.05). After 28 d, MD and HD SVF treatment groups showed that the content of collagen I was higher than that in photoaging skin model group (P<0.05), and the contents of collagen III and MMP3 were decreased (P<0.05). The dermis in HD group was thicker than that in photoaging skin model group (P<0.05).CONCLUSION: SVF may have anti-aging potential in photoaging skin and also has clinical application value.