Inflamm'aging
Most of us are familiar with the term inflammation. It’s our body’s natural response to protect us from infections and repair damaged tissues. Inflammation is typically visualized by redness and irritation around the infection site. But did you know that there is a type of inflammation that is silent and can cause premature aging? This chronic, low-grade inflammation is called inflamm’aging and is induced by age. Typically, its effects can go undetected and can worsen or build up over time. “It is considered to be one of the driving forces behind many age-related diseases such as diabetes, atherosclerosis, age-related macular degeneration, and skin aging.”(1) This is why many refer to inflamm’aging as the “silent killer.”
Phases of Inflammation
To understand inflamm’aging, we need to first take a look at the inflammation process and the components that induce and terminate responses. The inflammation process is a three-step mechanism consisting of initiation, amplification, and resolution phases. Initiation is where pro-inflammatory mediators are released, and clinical signs such as redness, swelling, heat, or pain occur. During amplification, the mediators aggregate to the infection site and further aggravate those symptoms, depending on the extent of the damage. An finally, the resolution phase where a specific family of lipid mediators – specialized pro-resolving mediators (SPMs) – are used to terminate the inflammation process to allow the tissue to heal. This step is critical in avoiding chronic disorders and allows for skin homeostasis. In damaged skin or inflamm’aged skin, however, this process is deregulated. Resolution is incomplete and therefore leads to a chronic state of inflammation without any tissue repair.
In 2019, Gattefossé conducted a study, in collaboration with Ambiotis, on young and mature skin to understand the differentiation of the resolution of inflammation and deregulation of SPM synthesis. The study found that young skin presented high responsiveness toward inflammatory stress and effective restoration of skin homeostasis due to the efficient synthesis of SPMs. Whereas, mature skin showed a weaker responsiveness toward inflammatory stress and compromised resolution mechanism characterized by reduced production of SPMs.
Breaking the cycle
We determined that the best strategy to combat inflammation was to develop an active that targeted the resolution phase of the inflammation process.
Meet Gatuline® Skin-Repair AF. This organic certified active combats the effects of stress by promoting the resolution of inflammation in order to bring about effective tissue repair. So how do we see this in the skin? We conducted an in vitro study on young and mature skin biopsies by subjecting them to three conditions; untreated without stress, untreated with PMA-induced stress, and treatment of 2% Gatuline Skin-Repair AF with PMA-induced stress. The results showed that in young skin, there was a significant increase in the synthesis of two lipoxins – lipoxin A4 (LXA4) and lipoxin B4 (LXB4) – that are SPM precursors. This allows for the resolution of inflammation and the prevention of chronic inflammation associated with age (inflamm’aging). In mature skin, there was a moderate increase in lipoxin synthesis, allowing the skin to cope with the vicious effects of the inflammation cycle.
Damaged Skin Repair
Gauline® Skin-Repair AF is the solution to combating inflamm’aging. It works to break the vicious cycle of chronic inflammation by targeting and promoting the resolution of inflammation, thus allowing the skin to heal properly.