An ultra-sensitive biophysical risk assessment of light effect on skin cells

// Devasier Bennet 1 , Buddolla Viswanath 1 , Sanghyo Kim 1 and Jeong Ho An 2 1 Department of Bionanotechnology, Gachon University, Seongnam, Gyeonggi-Do 461-701, Republic of Korea 2 Department of Polymer Science & Engineering, Sungkyunkwan University, Suwon, Gyeonggi-Do 440-146, Republic of Korea Correspondence to: Sanghyo Kim, email: samkim@gachon.ac.kr Jeong Ho An, email: jhahn1us@skku.edu Keywords: biophysics of organization, biomechanical changes, color light radiation, extracellular matrix degeneration, AFM and ECIS based analysis Received: March 02, 2017 Accepted: April 18, 2017 Published: May 24, 2017 ABSTRACT The aim of this study was to analyze photo-dynamic and photo-pathology changes of different color light radiations on human adult skin cells. We used a real-time biophysical and biomechanics monitoring system for light-induced cellular changes in an in vitro model to find mechanisms of the initial and continuous degenerative process. Cells were exposed to intermittent, mild and intense (1-180 min) light with On/Off cycles, using blue, green, red and white light. Cellular ultra-structural changes, damages, and ECM impair function were evaluated by up/down-regulation of biophysical, biomechanical and biochemical properties. All cells exposed to different color light radiation showed significant changes in a time-dependent manner. Particularly, cell growth, stiffness, roughness, cytoskeletal integrity and ECM proteins of the human dermal fibroblasts-adult (HDF-a) cells showed highest alteration, followed by human epidermal keratinocytes-adult (HEK-a) cells and human epidermal melanocytes-adult (HEM-a) cells. Such changes might impede the normal cellular functions. Overall, the obtained results identify a new insight that may contribute to premature aging, and causes it to look aged in younger people. Moreover, these results advance our understanding of the different color light-induced degenerative process and help the development of new therapeutic strategies.