Treatment of photoaged skin with topical tretinoin increases epidermal-dermal anchoring fibrils

Journal Article · Wed Jun 13 00:00:00 EDT 1990 · JAMA, Journal of the American Medical Association; (USA)

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1001/jama.263.22.3057· OSTI ID:6226777

Woodley, D T; Briggaman, R A ^[1]; Zelickson, A S ^[2]; Hamilton, T A; Weiss, J S; Ellis, C N; Voorhees, J J ^[3]

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1. Univ. of North Carolina, Chapel Hill (USA)
2. Univ. of Minnesota, Minneapolis (USA)
3. Univ. of Michigan, Ann Arbor (USA)

Topical 0.1% tretinoin or vehicle control was applied daily to the forearm skin of six caucasian adults for 4 months. Two-millimeter punch biopsy specimens were obtained from treatment sites at the beginning and end of the study period for electron microscopy. Anchoring fibrils within the epidermal-dermal junction of skin treatment sites were quantitated by blinded, standardized, computer-assisted morphometry. After 4 months of continual daily treatment, skin sites that received topical tretinoin showed double the anchoring fibril density compared with vehicle control sites. The possible mechanism by which topical tretinoin increases anchoring fibrils in skin include the drug's property of inhibiting collagenase, a dermal enzyme that degrades anchoring fibril collagen. The authors speculate that increased numbers of collagenous anchoring fibrils within the papillary dermis of human skin is one of the connective-tissue correlates of the clinical improvement observed in photoaged skin after treatment with topical tretinoin.

• OSTI ID: 6226777
• Journal Information: JAMA, Journal of the American Medical Association; (USA), Vol. 263:22; ISSN 0098-7484
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

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560151* - Radiation Effects on Animals- Man