Nurrani Mustika Dewi

Heterogeneous Stem Cells in Skin Homeostatis and Wound Repair

BACKGROUND: The skin protects mammals from insults, infection and dehydration and enables thermoregulation and sensory perception. Various skin-resident cells carry out these diverse functions. Constant turnover of cells and healing upon injury necessitate multiple reservoirs of stem cells. The skin is a complex organ harboring several distinct populations of stem cells and a rich array of cell types. Advances in genetic and imaging tools have brought new findings about the lineage relationships between skin stem cells and their progeny. Such knowledge may offer novel avenues for therapeutics and regenerative medicine. CONTENT: In the past years, our view of the mechanisms that govern skin homeostasis and regeneration have markedly changed. New populations of stem cells have been identified that behave spatio-temporally differently in healthy tissues and in situations of damage, indicating that a great level of stem cell heterogeneity is present in the skin. There are believed to be distinct populations of stem cells in different locations. The lineages that they feed are normally constrained by signals from their local environment, but they can give rise to all epidermal lineages in response to appropriate stimuli. Given the richness of structures such as blood vessels, subcutaneous fat, innervation and the accumulation of fibroblasts under the upper parts of the rete ridges (in the case of human skin), it is reasonable to speculate that the microenvironment might be essential for interfollicular epidermal homeostasis. The bloodstream is probably the main source of long-range signals reaching the skin, and cues provided by the vascular niche might be essential for skin homeostasis. SUMMARY: A key function of the interfollicular epidermis is to act as a protective interface between the body and the external environment, and it contains several architectural elements that enable it to fulfill this function. All elements of the epidermis play active roles in regulating skin function, which might not have been anticipated from their role in maintaining skin integrity. Skin cell research benefits from the integration of complementary technologies and disciplines. How skin function is regulated and how it may be possible to intervene to treat a variety of skin conditions. Ultimately also impairing the maintenance of self-renewing satellite cells. Therefore, only anti-aging strategies taking both factors, the stem cell niche and the stem cells per se, into consideration may ultimately be successful. KEYWORDS: epidermis, hair follicle, fibroblast, skin stem cells, homeostasis, regeneration

In Search for Anti-Aging Strategy: Can We Rejuvenate Our Aging Stem Cells?

BACKGROUND: Recent evidence suggested that we grow old partly because of our stem cells grow old as a result of mechanisms that suppress the development of cancer over a lifetime. We believe that a further, more precise mechanistic understanding of this process will be required before this knowledge can be translated into human anti-aging therapies. CONTENT: A diminished capacity to maintain tissue homeostasis is a central physiological characteristic of aging. As stem cells regulate tissue homeostasis, depletion of stem cell reserves and/or diminished stem cell function have been postulated to contribute to aging. It has further been suggested that accumulated DNA damage could be a principal mechanism underlying age-dependent stem cell decline. It is interesting that many of the rejuvenating interventions act on the stem cell compartments, perhaps reflecting shared genetic and biochemical pathways controlling stem cell function and longevity. Strategy to slow down the aging processes is based on caloric restriction refers to a dietary regimen low in calories but without undernutrition. Sirtuin (SIRT)1 and 3, increases longevity by mimicking the beneficial effects of caloric restriction. SIRT3 regulates stress-responsive mitochondrial homeostasis, and more importantly, SIRT3 upregulation rejuvenates aged stem cells in tissues. Resveratrol (3,5,4’-trihydroxystilbene), a natural polyphenol found in grapes and wine, was the most powerful natural activator of SIRT1. In fact, resveratrol treatment has been demonstrated to rescue adult stem cell decline, slow down bodyweight loss, improve trabecular bone structure and mineral density, and significantly extend lifespan. SUMMARY: Tissue-specific stem cells persist throughout the entire lifespan to repair and maintain tissues, but their self-renewal and differentiation potential become dysregulated with aging. Given that adult stem cells are thought to be central to tissue maintenance and organismal survival, SIRT3 may promote organismal longevity by maintaining the integrity of tissue-speciic stem cells. KEYWORDS: rejuvenation, aging, stem cell, DNA damage, sirtuin activator