Senescent fibroblasts play a role in aging pigmentation.

The purpose of a new study published in The Journal of Investigative Dermatology was to investigate the effects of GDF15 on melanogenesis.

In this experiment, normal human melanocytes were co-cultured with fibroblasts infected with the GDF15 lentivirus or sh-GDF15.

The findings showed that GDF15 stimulates melanogenesis in melanocytes through MITF/tyrosinase upregulation via β-catenin signaling. The stimulatory action of GDF15 during pigmentation was further confirmed in ex vivo cultured skin, as well as in a reconstituted human skin sample.

The results indicated that GDF15 expression levels are increased in UV-irradiated senescent fibroblasts and photoaged hyperpigmented skin. Hence, it was inferred that senescent-fibroblast-derives GDF15 stimulates skin pigmentation and may play a role in aging-associated pigmentation.

Source: The Journal of Investigative Dermatology. 2020 May 13;S0022-202X(20)31576-1. doi: 10.1016/j.jid.2020.04.016.