Figure 3.

Protective effects of dieckol against UVB-induced dehydration in HR-1 mice. HR-1 mice were administered dieckol (5 or 10 mg/kg) three times per week for 8 weeks after UVB-irradiation (60 mJ/cm² to 120 mJ/cm²). (A) Masson’s trichrome-stained sections of the dorsal skin. Scale Bars = 500 μm; (B) the protein expression level of pro-COL1A1 was evaluated by Western blot analysis. β-actin is used as an internal control; (C) the mRNA expression level of COL1A1 was quantified through qRT-PCR; (D) the contents of MMP-1 in dorsal skin tissue were measured by the MMP-1 ELISA kit. (E–G) The mRNA expression levels of MMP-1, -3, and -9 were analyzed by qRT-PCR. Data are expressed as the mean ± SEM (n = 6). ^# p < 0.05 vs. the vehicle-treated control group; * p < 0.05, ** p < 0.01 and *** p < 0.001 vs. UVB only-treated group.