THE EFFECT OF TOPICAL ESTRADIOL ON SKIN COLLAGEN OF POSTMENOPAUSAL WOMEN

Objective To examine the effect of topical oestradiol on skin collagen and elastin. Subjects Twelve postmenopausal women, aged 52 to 76 year s. Interventions Topical oestradiol treatment on the skin of lower abd omen and the vehicle only on the contralateral site; once a day for th ree months. Main outcome measures The content of skin hydroxyproline; the levels of the carboxyterminal propeptide of human type I procollag en (PICP) and of the aminoterminal propetide of human type III procoll agen (PIIINP). The number and the quality of collagen and elastic micr ofibrils. Results The amount of hydroxyproline in the skin significant ly (P = 0.012) increased from 11.8 to 16.3 mu g (38 %) during oestradi ol treatment. After treatment, the PICP level in the blister fluid was significantly (P = 0.024) higher on the treated site than on the cont rol site. Also the level of PIIINP increased, but the change was not s tatistically significant. Electron microscopy showed morphologic impro vement of elastic and collagen fibres, while the number of oxytalan an d elaunin fibres was unchanged in light microscopy. Conclusions Topica l oestradiol treatment increases the amount of skin collagen. The incr ease in the level of PICP and PIIINP in skin blister fluid indicates t hat oestradiol treatment stimulates collagen synthesis. Furthermore, o ur results show that topical ostradiol treatment has a greater influen ce on the amount than on the quality of skin collagen. On the contrary , in elastic tissue the oestradiol treatment will only result in morph ologic improvement.