The Effect of Glycolic Acid on Human Dermal Fibroblasts: Increased Collagen Synthesis and Inhibition of MMP-2/9

Alpha hydroxy acid (AHA) includes a group of organic acids found in natural foods such as sugarcane (glycolic acid), milk (lactic acid), apples (malic acid) and oranges (citric acid). Earlier studies demonstrated the effect of AHAs on the skin by diminishing the adhesiveness of the corneal layer and increasing the viable epidermal thickness. Recent data suggest that AHAs have some effects on the dermal component of skin and even affect the aging process of the skin. A previous study revealed increased collagen production by treatment with glycolic acid among AHAs in vitro. However, the mechanism of the regulation of collagen production by glycolic acid was unclear. In present study, we tried to demonstrate the effect of glycolic acid on human dermal fibroblasts and to unveil the mechanism of regulation of collagen production by glycolic acid in human dermal fibroblasts: proliferation of fibroblasts and collagen synthesis and degradation by collagenases in fibroblasts. Our results suggested that glycolic acid had no effect on proliferation and cytotoxicity of adult human dermal fibroblasts. However, glycolic acid not only induced the increase of the collagen synthesis in human dermal fibroblasts at lower concentration than 0.1 % but also inhibited MMP-2 activity of human dermal fibroblast in the range between 0.01 and 0.4% and MMP-9 activity of human dermal fibroblast in the range between 0.06 and 0.09%. In summary, our results suggest that glycolic acid may increase wrinkle reduction partially by both increase in collagen synthesis and decrease in collagen degradation.