Vitamin C found to have new skin protection role

Scientists from two European research units have discovered a new role in which vitamin C protects the skin.

The researchers from the University of Leicester and Institute for Molecular and Cellular Biology in Portugal studied new protective properties of vitamin C in cells from the human skin, which they say could lead to better skin regeneration.

The group formed of Tiago Duarte, Marcus S Cooke and G Don Jones found that a form of vitamin C helped to promote wound healing and also helped protect against DNA damage in skin cells.

The study analysed the effect of sustained exposure to a vitamin C derivative, ascorbic acid 2-phosphate (AA2P) in human dermal fibroblasts and looked into which genes are activated by vitamin C in these cells.

“The results demonstrated that vitamin C may improve wound healing by stimulating quiescent fibroblasts to divide and by promoting their migration into the wounded area,” explained Duarte. “Vitamin C could also protect the skin by increasing the capacity of fibroblasts to repair potentially mutagenic DNA lesions.”

“The study indicates a mechanism by which vitamin C could contribute to the maintenance of a healthy skin by promoting wound healing and by protecting cellular DNA against damage caused by oxidation,” added Cooke. “These findings are of particular importance to our photobiology interests and we will certainly be looking into this further.”

The group’s findings have been published in the journal Free Radical Biology and Medicine.