Intrinsic aging is associated with metabolic dysregulation and altered tissue organization. Using label-free multiphoton microscopy, skin was non-invasively imaged in vivo in young and aged mice and optical biomarkers of metabolism and altered collagen organization were compared. Aged skin demonstrated decreased NADH autofluorescence intensity, higher mitochondrial fractal dimensions, and longer mean NADH fluorescence lifetimes compared to young skin. Moreover, aged dermal collagen exhibited greater randomness of fiber organization. These findings demonstrate that multiphoton microscopy is a viable technique to monitor multiple structural and biochemical changes associated with the aging process.
Second-harmonic generation microscopy and macro-scale imaging were combined to enable multiscale assessments of mouse skin undergoing uniaxial mechanical testing. Skin from old and young mice experienced a substantial micro-scale volume reduction during uniaxial tension. A non-affine relationship between the 3D collagen fiber kinematics and local deformation was also observed. Aged skin was found to have a lower stiffness but increased collagen fiber realignment during mechanical loading. These results are being used to develop multiscale models of skin mechanics and obtain a more complete understanding of age-related changes in skin structure-function relationships.
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