Figure 8.

Comparison of fibroblasts and collagen fibrils in young and aged skin (reprinted from [49]). Reduced fibroblasts size stimulates intracellular ROS generation. In the young human skin dermis, intact collagen fibrils interact with cells to maintain normal cell spreading and size (left). In contrast, in the aged human skin dermis (right), broken collagen fibrils are unable to support normal cell spreading, and this causes reduced cell size. One of the prominent features of the collapsed cells is the increase in intracellular ROS generation.