Short-Term l-arginine Treatment Mitigates Early Damage of Dermal Collagen Induced by Diabetes

TL;DR

Short-term l-arginine treatment helps prevent early skin collagen damage caused by diabetes in rats.

Contribution

This study shows that l-arginine can mitigate early structural damage to collagen in diabetic skin.

Findings

Diabetes causes partial damage to collagen fibers, creating patchy patterns of ordered and disordered fibers.

l-arginine treatment reduces collagen conformational changes and increases proline and hydroxyproline levels.

Early collagen damage in diabetes can be prevented or treated with short-term l-arginine treatment.

Abstract

Changes in the structural properties of the skin due to collagen alterations are an important factor in diabetic skin complications. Using a combination of photonic methods as an optic diagnostic tool, we investigated the structural alteration in rat dermal collagen I in diabetes, and after short-term l-arginine treatment. The multiplex approach shows that in the early phase of diabetes, collagen fibers are partially damaged, resulting in the heterogeneity of fibers, e.g., “patchy patterns” of highly ordered/disordered fibers, while l-arginine treatment counteracts to some extent the conformational changes in collagen-induced by diabetes and mitigates the damage. Raman spectroscopy shows intense collagen conformational changes via amides I and II in diabetes, suggesting that diabetes-induced structural changes in collagen originate predominantly from individual collagen molecules rather than supramolecular structures. There is a clear increase in the amounts of newly synthesized proline and hydroxyproline after treatment with l-arginine, reflecting the changed collagen content. This suggests that it might be useful for treating and stopping collagen damage early on in diabetic skin. Our results demonstrate that l-arginine attenuates the early collagen I alteration caused by diabetes and that it could be used to treat and prevent collagen damage in diabetic skin at a very early stage.

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