Comparison of antiaging effects of polycaprolactone and calcium hydroxylapatite dermal fillers on rat skin

Objective: Polycaprolactone and Calcium hydroxylapatite are semi-permanent dermal fillers that are frequently preferred in the field of cosmetology in the last decade. Owing to the microspheres they contain, they stimulate neocollagenization in the dermis. The aim of this study is to compare the effects of increasşng the dermal Type 1 and Type 3 collagen levels of these two fillers in the rat skin. Material and method: 30 female rats were divided into 3 groups with 10 animals each group; control group, polycaprolactone and calcium hydroxilapatite group. Tissue samples taken at 2 and 4 months were stained with hematoxylin eosin, masson trichrome, type 1 and 3 immunohistochemical antibodies. Collagen density was quantitatively compared using the Image J computer program. Results: At 2 and 4 months, the density of collagen was increased in both filler groups compared to the control group. When CaHA and PCL were compared, there was no significant difference between collagen density or type 1 and type 3 collagen H scores. The number of fibroblast nuclei was significantly higher in the PCL group at 4 months compared to the other two groups. Dermis thickness was found to be superior in both filler groups compared to the control group at the 4th month, there was no significant difference between the filling groups. Conclusion: We compared the effect of CaHA and PCL filler on collagenization hystologycally and immunohistochemically. We found that PCL and CaHA fillers are effective increaing dermal collagen density, type 1 and type 3 collagen amount, and preenting dermis atrophy, and showed that they have no advantage over each other in this respect. We have shown that PCL filler provides more fibroblast increase compared to CaHA filler and the effect of stimulating fibroblast proliferation takes longer.