NAD+ administration profoundly decreases UVC-induced skin damage by attenuating oxidative stress, inflammation, DNA damage and apoptosis

Mengmeng Li; Mingchao Zhang; Yin Zhang; Yu Liang; Weihai Ying

NAD⁺ administration profoundly decreases UVC-induced skin damage by attenuating oxidative stress, inflammation, DNA damage and apoptosis

Int J Physiol Pathophysiol Pharmacol. 2023 Apr 15;15(2):41-49. eCollection 2023.

Authors

Mengmeng Li¹, Mingchao Zhang^{1

2}, Yin Zhang³, Yu Liang³, Weihai Ying¹

Affiliations

¹ Med-X Research Institute and School of Biomedical Engineering, Shanghai Jiao Tong University Shanghai 200030, P. R. China.
² Multiscale Research Institute of Complex Systems, Fudan University Shanghai 200433, P. R. China.
³ Department of Orthopedics, Ruijin Hospital, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine 197 Ruijin 2nd Road, Shanghai 200025, P. R. China.

PMID: 37216171
PMCID: PMC10195211

Abstract

Ultraviolet (UV) radiation is a major cause of multiple major skin diseases including skin cancer. It is crucial to discover new agents that can produce profound protective effects on UV-produced skin damage. Using a mouse model, in this study we determined the effects of NAD⁺ on UVC-induced skin damage and investigated the mechanisms underlying the effects, obtaining the following discoveries: First, UVC-induced skin's green autofluorescence (AF) was highly correlated with the extent of UVC-indued skin's damage; second, NAD⁺ administration profoundly decreased UVC-induced skin damage; third, NAD⁺ administration significantly attenuated UVC-induced decreases in the levels of mitochondrial superoxide dismutase and catalase; fourth, NAD⁺ administration significantly attenuated UVC-induced increase in the level of cyclooxygenase (COX) 2 - a marker of inflammation; fifth, NAD⁺ administration profoundly attenuated UVC-induced increase in double-strand DNA (dsDNA) damage; and sixth, NAD⁺ administration profoundly attenuated UVC-induced decreases in the ratios of Bcl-2/Bax - an index of apoptosis. Collectively, our study has found that NAD⁺ administration can profoundly decrease UVC-induced skin damage by attenuating oxidative stress, inflammation, DNA damage, and apoptosis, suggesting great potential of NAD⁺ as a protective agent for UVC-induced skin damage. Moreover, our study has further indicated that the skin's green AF is a biomarker for predicting UVC-induced skin damage.

Keywords: NAD+; UV; apoptosis; green autofluorescence; skin damage.