Skin Mediates the Aphrodisiac Effect of UVB Light Via a Skin-Brain-Gonad Axis

Parikh, Roma; Sorek, Eschar; Keren, Michael; Parikh, Shivang; Bikovski, Lior; Golan, Tamar; Mardamshina, Mariya; Boonman, Arjan; Kronfeld‐Schor, Noga; Joseph, Hadas Bar; Matz, Hagit; Pavlovsky, Mor; Liel, Yair; Brenner, Ronen; Gepner, Yftach; Karnieli‐Miller, Orit; Hemi, Rina; Luxenburg, Chen; Shalgi, Ruth; Percik, Ruth; Weller, Aron; Levy, Carmit

doi:10.2139/ssrn.3742255

Cited by 1 publication

(1 citation statement)

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“…UVB is markedly more efficient than UVA in inducing behavioral changes (Slominski et al, 2018). These findings indicate that at least some of the health benefits of sunlight are independent of vitamin D. Few studies done by our research group on human subjects and C57BL/6 mice indicate that UVB exposure influences both sexual and food-seeking behavior and that these effects are mediated via the skin (Parikh et al, 2021(Parikh et al, , 2022(Parikh et al, , 2023. Skin has three layers, the epidermis, the dermis, and the hypodermis (Agarwal and Krishnamurthy, 2023).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 93%

Skin epidermal keratinocyte p53 induces food uptake upon UV exposure

Parikh,

Harari

et al. 2023

Front. Behav. Neurosci.

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IntroductionThe first cells affected by UVB exposure are epidermal keratinocytes, and p53, the genome guardian, is activated in these cells when skin is exposed to UVB. UVB exposure induces appetite, but it remains unclear whether p53 in epidermal keratinocytes plays a role in this appetite stimulation.ResultsHere we found that food intake was increased following chronic daily UVB exposure in a manner that depends on p53 expression in epidermal keratinocytes. p53 conditional knockout in epidermal keratinocytes reduced food intake in mice upon UVB exposure.MethodsTo investigate the effects of p53 activation following UVB exposure, mice behavior was assessed using the staircase, open-field, elevated-plus maze, and conditioned-place preference tests. In addition to effects on appetite, loss of p53 resulted in anxiety-related behaviors with no effect on activity level.DiscussionSince skin p53 induces production of β-endorphin, our data suggest that UVB-mediated activation of p53 results in an increase in β-endorphin levels which in turn influences appetite. Our study positions UVB as a central environmental factor in systemic behavior and has implications for the treatment of eating and anxiety-related disorders.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 93%