Tissue Mechanics in Haired Murine Skin: Potential Implications for Skin Aging

In 2021, a study titled "Tissue Mechanics in Haired Murine Skin: Potential Implications for Skin Aging" was conducted on 50 mice to understand the mechanical properties of aging skin. The researchers found that older mice had stiffer, less elastic skin due to changes in collagen structure and function. This could potentially contribute to aging and conditions like hair loss. The study also found that aging skin undergoes changes in architecture and composition due to accumulated changes in the genome/epigenome, cytokine/cell adhesion, and cell distribution/extracellular matrix (ECM). The ECM was suggested to play a key role in dictating the tissue mechanical landscape of niche microenvironments in aging phenotypes. The study also noted that elderly skin exhibits wrinkles, loose dermis, and reduced skin appendages, and is more prone to wounds and abrasions with poor healing. However, hair follicle stem cells could be rejuvenated if transplanted to a young skin environment. The researchers proposed potential therapeutic strategies to delay the aging processes, including chemical-based approaches like PRP, Follistatin, HES1, ADSC, and dWAT, and mechanical approaches like stretching and ECM/MMP perturbation.