Scopoletin has a potential activity for anti-aging via autophagy in human lung fibroblasts

Autophagy was known to be associated with aging in addition to cancer and neurodegeneration. The effects of scopoletin on autophagy and anti-aging were investigated in human lung fibroblast cell line, IMR 90. Here we show that scopoletin induces autophagy. It is also identified that the modulation of p53 by scopoletin are related to the induction of autophagy. Moreover, the level of SA-β-Gal staining, an aging marker, is reduced by scopoletin. In addition, while the expression levels of histone deacetylases such as HDAC1, SIRT1 and SIRT6 are increased in IMR 90 cells in the presence of scopoletin, the expression levels of histone acetyltransferases are decreased. Furthermore, scopoletin enhances the level of transcription factors such as Nrf-2and p-FoxO1 related to anti-aging. In addition, scopoletin modulates the reprogramming proteins. Therefore, these findings suggest that scopoletin could exert a positive effect on anti-aging related to autophagy through modulation of p53 in human lung fibroblasts.