The Effect of Topical Epigallocatechin-3-gallate (EGCG) on Collagen type-I, MMP-1 Expression and Dermal Collagen Count in Photoaging Prevention

Abstract The increasing of life expectancy in world population, increases the risk of photoaging. Photoaging of the skin is a complex biologic process especially caused by ultraviolet irradiation. Photoaging becomes new concern issue, because of high public awareness of skin health and performance. Many agents had been tried to be an alternative prevention for photoaging, such as green tea. Epigallocatechin-3-gallate (EGCG) is the most abundant catechin in green tea, that showed its possibility to be an alternative agent in photoaging prevention. This study was aimed to evaluate the effect of topical EGCG in photoaging prevention by evaluating collagen type-I, MMP-1 expression and dermal collagen count in photoaging animal model. This was an animal in vivo study. Male Wistar rats aged 10-12 weeks were acclimated for 1 week and randomly divided into 6 groups: without intervention; ultraviolet irradiated group; ultraviolet irradiated group with topical EGCG (2.5%, 5%, 10%); and ultraviolet irradiated group with topical based cream (control group). The effect of topical EGCG in collagen type-I, MMP-1 expression and dermal collagen count were evaluated after 5 weeks of treatment. The mean of collagen type-I expression in group treated with topical EGCG were higher than control group, meanwhile the MMP-1 expression was lower than control group. Topical EGCG prevented the reduction of dermal collagen count significantly (P <0.05). It showed that topical EGCG plays role in photoaging prevention. Keywords: Topical EGCG, Photoaging, Collagen type-I, MMP-1, Dermal collagen count, Life expectancy