Oral administration of astaxanthin mitigates chronological skin aging in mice

Abstract Intrinsic skin aging is a chronological decline in skin texture and function influenced largely by genetic factors. Aged skin exhibits morphological alterations, including wrinkling, dryness, and roughness, along with dysfunctional changes in the skin barrier. In this study, the in vivo anti-intrinsic aging efficacy of dietary astaxanthin extracted from Haematococcus pluvialis on the skin was evaluated using aged C57BL/6 J mice. As a result, dietary supplementation of 0.1% astaxanthin significantly alleviated the defects in skin’s water retention capacity, viscoelasticity, and reduced wrinkle formation induced by intrinsic aging. Furthermore, gene expression analysis revealed that dietary astaxanthin was capable of mediating genes related to the proliferation and differentiation of skin cells, degradation of proteins in the extracellular matrix and dermal-epidermal junction, synthesis of natural moisturizing factors, and maintenance of skin barrier function. Together, our data indicate that dietary astaxanthin has potential applications as a novel ingredient in nutricosmetics against chronological skin aging.