Can a cosmetic have similar impact as dermal fillers?

Youthful skin retains its turgor, resilience and pliability, among others, due to its high content of water. Daily external injury, in addition to the normal process of ageing, causes loss of moisture. The key molecule involved in skin moisture is hyaluronic acid (HA) that has unique capacity in retaining water. There are multiple sites for the control of HA synthesis, deposition, cell and protein association and degradation, reflecting the complexity of HA metabolism. The enzymes that synthesise or catabolise HA and HA receptors responsible for many of the functions of HA are all multi-gene families with distinct patterns of tissue expression. Understanding the metabolism of HA in the different layers of the skin and the interactions of HA with other skin components will facilitate the ability to modulate skin moisture in a rational manner. This paper shows results with a new peptide that delivered into a cell specific target capsule, boosts HA synthesis more than 200% in fibroblasts. This will be a valuable tool to refill wrinkles in a natural way.

Human skin ageing is a complex biological process, not yet fully understood. It is the result of two biologically independent processes. The first is intrinsic or innate ageing, an unpreventable process, which affects the skin in the same pattern it affects all internal organs. The second is extrinsic ageing, which is the result of exposure to external factors, mainly ultraviolet (UV) irradiation that is also referred to as photo ageing. Intrinsic skin ageing is influenced by hormonal changes that occur with age, such as the gradual decreased production of sex hormones from the mid-twenties and the diminution of oestrogens and progesterone associated with menopause. It is well established that the deficiency in oestrogens and androgens results in collagen degradation, dryness, loss of elasticity, epidermal atrophy and wrinkling of the skin. 

Even though intrinsic and extrinsic skin ageing are distinctive processes, they share similarities in molecular mechanisms. For example, reactive oxygen species (ROS), arising from oxidative cell metabolism, play a major role in both processes. ROS in extrinsic or intrinsic skin ageing induce the transcription factor c-Jun via mitogen-activated protein kinases (MAPK), leading to overexpression of matrix metalloproteinase MMP-1, MMP-3 and MMP-9 and prevention of the expression of pro-collagen. Therefore, elevated levels of degraded collagen and reduced collagen synthesis are pathologies occurring in intrinsically aged as well as photoaged skin.