- Scientists have shed light on why smokers look older
and have greyer, more wrinkled skin than non-smokers.
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- They have shown that smoking activates genes responsible
for an enzyme that breaks down collagen, the connective tissue that gives
skin its elasticity. Sunlight is thought to have the same effect, especially
on the face, which is the part of the body most exposed to ultraviolet
rays. The combination of smoking and sunlight produces wrinkles and sagging,
pallid skin.
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- The findings, published today in The Lancet, come from
a team of German and British researchers. Smoking has long been associated
with premature ageing. But the reason for the ageing effect of tobacco
has not been clearly understood. The team studied skin samples from 14
smokers and 19 non smokers. They were looking for levels of a gene that
expresses the protein matrix metalloproteinase-1, or MMP-1, which degrades
collagen.
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- Volunteers had patches of buttock skin irradiated with
ultraviolet light to see if this induced the formation of MMP-1. Previous
laboratory studies had indicated a link between the enzyme and sunlight.
They found that some volunteers not exposed to ultraviolet radiation had
unusual amounts of MMP-1 in their skin. Checks showed these participants
were smokers.
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- Professor Antony Young, of King's College, London, a
co-author of the report, said he suspected that the face received a "double
whammy" of MMP-1 from sunlight and tobacco. But he had no idea why
tobacco affected MMP-1. "Tobacco smoke contains thousands of chemicals.
It's very hard to know which ones are active." He hoped to see a further,
more detailed study.
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