Figure 1.

Collagen (COL) VII extends from the basement membrane to the dermis and binds to elastic fibers. Immunofluorescent three-dimensional images of elastic fibers and basement membrane proteins: (A) merged images (top), magnified images of each white square frame in the merged images (center), and extracted co-localized regions of elastic fibers and each basement membrane protein (below). COLIV, COLVII, and laminin 332 are localized in the basement membrane, and only COLVII extends from the basement membrane toward the dermis (white arrow). The structure of COLVII extending to the dermis is widely co-localized with elastic fibers; however, COLIV and laminin 332 showed almost no co-localization with elastic fibers. Top: blue: nuclear; green: COLIV, COLVII, or laminin 332; red: tropoelastin. Scale bar = 80 µm. Center: blue: nuclear; green: COLIV, COLVII, or laminin 332. Scale bar = 10 µm. Bottom: yellow: co-localization region. Scale bar = 80 µm. (B) The graph represents a quantitative comparison of co-localized regions of elastic fiber and basement membrane proteins in skin tissues excised from women in their 20s and 60s. The co-localization region of elastic fibers and COLVII is wider than that of COLIV and laminin 332 in both generations. The number on the horizontal axis indicates age. (C) The co-localization region of tropoelastin and COLVII is wider than that of COLIV and laminin 332 in both generations. Super-resolution image of COLVII and elastic fiber in young (left) and aged (right) skin tissue samples. Blue: nuclear; green: COLVII; red: tropoelastin. Scale bar = 5 µm.