There are many clinical reports describing symptoms improving with deep seawater (DSW) supplementation in various kinds of diseases today. However, we have not been able to find any information about this improving mechanism yet. On the other hand, it has been well known recently that ER stress is present as the foundation of every disease. In our past study concerning the calcification of normal human dermal fibroblasts (NHDF) caused by UVA irradiation, we reported the suppressive effect of DSW on the calcification. As its functional mechanism, it is postulated that apoptosis of NHDF induced by ER stress stimulation would be suppressed by DSW supplementation. Therefore, this study aims to analyze the pathway from the stimulated ER stress to the induction of apoptosis in NHDF by UVA irradiation. Furthermore, the supplementation effect of DSW was also analyzed in that pathway. As a result, it was suggested that ER stress of NHDF was induced by UVA irradiation, leading to apoptosis of NHDF. In addition, it was suggested that the apoptosis was suppressed by DSW supplementation, although the ER stress was not suppressed by it. From these results, it was suggested that the improvement mechanism of a clinical condition by DSW in many clinical reports might be based on the suppression of apoptosis induced by ER stress.
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