Overview

• Researchers at Tokyo Metropolitan Institute for Geriatrics and Gerontology published the findings in the Journal of Investigative Dermatology on April 20 after testing vitamin C on human epidermal equivalents.
• Treatment with physiological doses of vitamin C increased viable epidermal thickness and raised the number of Ki-67-positive keratinocytes within seven to 14 days.
• Genome-wide methylation profiling revealed over 10,000 hypomethylated regions and a 1.6- to 75.2-fold upregulation of 12 key proliferation-related genes following vitamin C exposure.
• Vitamin C acts as a reducing agent to convert Fe3+ back to Fe2+ and sustain TET enzyme-mediated DNA demethylation in epidermal cells.
• The study suggests topical or systemic vitamin C could offer a new therapeutic strategy for reversing age-related skin thinning and restoring barrier function.