The skin comprises various components, among them proteins like collagen. Innately found in the dermis, collagen plays a vital role in maintaining skin firmness, elasticity, and structure. Nonetheless, its levels diminish with age, potentially necessitating external supplementation to uphold skin health.
Collagen, naturally occurring in the body, stands as the most prevalent protein, constituting roughly 25% of all recorded proteins. Produced by fibroblasts, it furnishes mechanical resistance against stretching and structure to various connective tissues, such as skin, muscles, bones, ligaments, tendons, and hair.
Among the 28 types of collagen, type I predominates in the dermal extracellular matrix, comprising 80 to 90% of total collagen. It features three polypeptide chains arranged helically, each consisting of a thousand amino acids interconnected by disulfide bridges to form patterns known as sequences. Although glycine holds the highest representation among amino acids, it is also abundant in proline and hydroxyproline.
Critical for skin health, collagen, in fibrous form, facilitates tissue regeneration, confers considerable elasticity, bestows flexibility and resilience, and acts as a binding agent between skin cells, thus preserving its structural integrity. However, collagen synthesis decelerates with age, typically commencing around 25 years old, leading to an annual collagen loss of approximately 1%, progressively escalating to 25% annually. Consequently, by age 80, individuals may have depleted 75% of their collagen compared to young adults. Furthermore, collagen fibers become rigid, fragmented, and disorganized over time.
These processes foster the emergence of wrinkles, diminished firmness and elasticity, and skin laxity. Moreover, insufficient collagen levels yield an uneven skin texture, resulting in diminished radiance and a less uniform complexion. Various factors, including unprotected UV exposure, smoking, air pollution, and dietary habits contributing to glycation (the bonding of sugars to collagen), exacerbate premature collagen degradation.
In order to mitigate skin aging, supplementing collagen externally can prove advantageous. Hence, it finds application in cosmetics to counteract the age-related decline in collagen production, thereby reducing wrinkle depth and enhancing skin appearance. When topically applied, collagen exhibits the following actions:
Terms :native collagen possesses a high molecular weight, making it unable to penetrate the epidermal barrier. However, for effective assimilation and function, collagen must undergo hydrolysis, breaking it down into peptides with lower molecular weights (approximately 1,000 to 10,000 Da) to facilitate trans-epidermal penetration.
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