Dietary Restriction Attenuates Inflammation and Protects Mouse Skin from High-Dose Ultraviolet B Irradiation

Ultraviolet B (UVB) radiation may influence the occurrence or even worsen cutaneous disorders from inflammatory to neoplastic disorders. Dietary restriction (DR) is a well-known regimen that can retard aging-associated pathologies, and is shown by us and others that it can significantly inhibit inflammation under various conditions, including in both undisturbed and stressed settings. It is unknown whether DR could act as a nonpharmacological factor to protect skin against UVB-induced damage. In this study, we performed 30% DR to mice 1 week before UVB irradiation (798.6 mJ/cm²). Remarkably, continuous DR significantly ameliorated UVB-induced skin damage and histological changes, associated with a great reduction in the inflammatory responses in the skin. Intriguingly, refed DR mice with ad libitum diet even 24 hours postirradiation reinflamed the inflammatory responses and induced significantly strong damage to the skin. Together, this study provides the first experimental evidence that DR greatly protects mouse skin from high dose of UVB irradiation, which if translatable could have great implications in human beings.