Improving the human skin microanatomy understanding and skin aging observation with the SkinExplorer™ platform

Abstract

Background: The skin includes 3 major layers: epidermis, dermis and hypodermis. With aging, the human skin becomes thinner and flattens with dermal papillae being less pronounced. The epidermis becomes fine-drawn and the dermal network deteriorates with decades. The three-dimensional structure of elastic network and the hyaluronic acid distribution are so complex, rich and dense that the conventional observation ways can only provide partial view of these components. Objective: The aim of this study was to demonstrate the morphological differences between two abdominal skin samples coming from young and aged donors based on elastic fibers organization and hyaluronic acid distribution. Methods: The SkinExplorer™ platform performs immersive and interactive exploration with virtual reality applications. Results: 2mm3 of histological data were obtained from 40 serial histological sections. Two three-dimensional numerical models from respectively young and aged skin biopsies were reconstructed. The observations were realized on the epidermis and dermal elastic fibers with the SkinExplorer™ platform and virtual reality (VR) applications. For hyaluronic acid repartition, two smaller models were reconstructed to see their richness and density by the same platform and VR tools. Conclusion: These results suggest that Virtual Reality applications can be a good tool for the observation of aging process with its assessing and understanding. Moreover, this tool of exploration offers new way of micro-anatomical research.