Anti-aging and Rejuvenating Effects and Potential Mechanism of Dead Sea Water in Skin
OBJECTIVE: External environmental stressors and internal factors significantly impact the skin by causing inflammation, aging, reduced immunity, and other adverse responses. Dead Sea Water (DSW) is well known for its dermatological benefits and has been widely used in dermatological therapy and skincare (e.g. psoriasis, atopic dermatitis and photoaging). However, the anti-aging and rejuvenating effects of DSW and the related biological pathways involved, which have attracted increasing attention, remain to be fully understood. The aim of this study is to investigate the anti-aging and rejuvenating effects and to probe to explore the related potential biological mechanisms of DSW under different environmental conditions. METHODS: Using in vitro human dermal cells and reconstructed skin models, the effects of DSW treatment on the extracellular matrix (ECM) components and the morphological changes at the dermal-epidermal junction (DEJ) were investigated. RNA sequencing (RNA-seq) analysis of human dermal fibroblast models after DSW treatment was performed to explore the potential mechanisms of action of DSW under normal and UV stress conditions. RESULTS: The novel findings in this work present the biological functions of DSW, including procollagen-1 and elastin secretion, hemidesmosome increase, and the epidermal basal cell regeneration. In addition, GO, KEGG, and Reactome analysis results reveal the activation of pathways related to ion transmembrane transporter activity, ECM component biosynthesis, senescence-associated secretory phenotype (SASP), DNA repair, and autophagy, which are associated with the anti-aging activities of DSW. CONCLUSION: Our work provides new perspectives for understanding the anti-aging and rejuvenating effects and mechanisms of DSW. The new findings also provide a theoretical basis for further development of age-related strategies. Overall design: non-UV group: Control , 0.02% Osmoter treatment, 0.06% Osmoter treatment; UV-group: Control , UV group, UV+0.02% Osmoter treatment, UV+0.06% Osmoter treatment.