The epidermal barrier acts as a line of defense against external agents as well as helps to maintain body homeostasis. The calcium concentration gradient across the epidermal barrier is closely related to the proliferation and differentiation of keratinocytes (KCs), and the regulation of these two processes is the key to the repair of epidermal barrier disruption. In the present study, we found that fucoidan from Undaria pinnatifida (UPF) could promote the repair of epidermal barrier disruption in mice. The mechanistic study demonstrated that UPF could promote HaCaT cell differentiation under low calcium condition by up-regulating the expression of calcium-sensing receptor (CaSR), which could then lead to the activation of the Catenin/PLCγ1 pathway. Further, UPF could increase the expression of CaSR through activate the ERK and p38 pathway. These findings reveal the molecular mechanism of UPF in the repair of the epidermal barrier and provide a basis for the development of UPF into an agent for the repair of epidermal barrier repair.
Keywords: CaSR; ERK; UPF; epidermal barrier; p38.