142 The phenotype of dermal fibroblasts in young vs. aged human skin: Adaptation to dermal extracellular matrix deterioration and cell autonomous responses

The dermis is largely composed of collagen-rich fibrils that form a dense extracellular matrix (ECM). Dermal fibroblasts produce and are embedded within the dermal ECM. During aging, ECM becomes fragmented. This fragmentation associated with deleterious alterations fibroblast function. We have investigated degree to which these stem from adaptation deterioration versus cell-autonomous age-driven responses. Primary young (20-30 years old, 6 females, males) aged (>80 individuals were placed in standard monolayer culture either harvested at 70% confluence (P1) for telomere quantitation RNAseq transcriptome analysis or cultured through multiple passages.