Disrupted mitochondrial function in aged human dermal fibroblasts

Skin undergoes changes in structure and function with age, including a shift in metabolic programs. This is particularly evident relative to mitochondrial function in skin cells. Dermal fibroblasts have been known to accumulate damage caused by both external and internal stressors, leading to altered bioenergetics that limits efficient synthesis of ATP and NAD+. To better understand the changes in mitochondrial function with age, metabolic profiles and transcriptomic profiles of primary dermal fibroblasts from varying aged donors were analysed. Primary dermal fibroblasts from 5 “young” (median age 24 ± 4.8 SD) and 5 “old” (median age 70.4 ± 15.8) Caucasian male donors were subjected to microarray profiling on the GeneTitan U219 array platform.