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The decreased secretion of hyaluronan by older human fibroblasts under physiological conditions is mainly associated with the down-regulated expression of hyaluronan synthases but not with the expression levels of hyaluronidases

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Abstract

Although it has been reported that levels of hyaluronan are decreased in the dermis of aged skin, little is known about the cellular mechanism(s) underlying that hyaluronan deficiency. Since hyaluronan is produced by dermal fibroblasts and is secreted into the surrounding dermal tissues, we examined the secretion of hyaluronan by dermal fibroblasts and characterized its cellular mechanism using real-time RT-PCR and western blotting for its synthesizing and degrading enzymes, hyaluronan synthase and hyaluronidase, respectively. The secretion of hyaluronan by dermal fibroblasts derived from differently aged human donors, was higher in the younger human fibroblasts tested (0 and 19 years old) compared to the older human fibroblasts tested (39, 56 and 77 years old). The relative secretion levels of hyaluronan by the different human fibroblasts tested were attributable to the relative expression of hyaluronan synthases 1, 2, 3 but not hyaluronidases 1, 2 enzymes at the gene and protein levels among those fibroblasts. These findings indicate that the deficiency of hyaluronan in the aged dermis might result from the down-regulation in the potential of older human fibroblasts to secrete hyaluronan and that decrease in secretory potential is mainly associated with the down-regulated expression of hyaluronan synthases, especially hyaluronan synthase 2, but not with the expression levels of hyaluronidases.

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Abbreviations

HA:

Hyaluronan

HAS:

Hyaluronan synthase

HYAL:

Hyaluronidase

NHDFs:

Normal human dermal fibroblasts

UVB:

Ultraviolet B

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The authors have declared that no conflict of interest exists.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Research Institute for Biological Functions, Chubu University, 1200 Matsumoto, Kasugai, Aichi, 487-8501, Japan

    Shuko Terazawa & Genji Imokawa

  2. School of Bioscience and Biotechnology, Tokyo University of Technology, Tokyo, Japan

    Hiroaki Nakajima & Keisuke Tobita

Authors
  1. Shuko Terazawa
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  2. Hiroaki Nakajima
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  3. Keisuke Tobita
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  4. Genji Imokawa
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Genji Imokawa.

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Shuko Terazawa and Hiroaki Nakajima have contributed equally to this work.

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Terazawa, S., Nakajima, H., Tobita, K. et al. The decreased secretion of hyaluronan by older human fibroblasts under physiological conditions is mainly associated with the down-regulated expression of hyaluronan synthases but not with the expression levels of hyaluronidases. Cytotechnology 67, 609–620 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10616-014-9707-2

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