Vitamin D3 and the Molecular Pathway of Skin Aging

Many women pay attention to skin aging. Signs of aging such as lines, wrinkles, dry skin, hyperpigmentation, and loss of elasticity affect skin appearance and self-confidence. Age, lifestyle, and particularly UV irradiation stimulate reactive oxygen species (ROS) production. ROS induces the breakdown of collagen through matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs). Collagen and elastin play a pivotal role in skin aging. They maintain skin integrity, strength, and resiliency. Antioxidant and keratolytic agents are often used in anti-aging products, including several vitamins such as vitamin A, B, C and E. To date, several studies have been reported in the literature for the effects of vitamin D on collagen synthesis and MMPs inhibition. This review focuses on identifying and assessing the molecular pathways of vitamin D effects related to skin aging. The literature was collected from Google Scholar, Elsevier, Science Direct, PubMed, and Scopus databases and accessed between January 2019 and May 2022. The literature screening was conducted using keywords like “vitamin D3”, “collagen”, “matrix metalloproteinases”, “skin aging” and related to the study topic were included. The effect of vitamin D3 on MMPs inhibition (particularly on MMP-1, MMP-3, and MMP-9) has been widely published. Several studies have reported that vitamin D increases collagen synthesis and clinically improves skin elasticity. However, there have been controversial results regarding how vitamin D3 affects transforming growth factor-β (TGF-β) correlated with skin elasticity by the molecular pathway. Therefore, it can be concluded that vitamin D3 is a potential alternative agent in improving skin aging.