Healthy skin provides an active interface between the internal and external environments of the body and enables permanent acclimatization of an organism during its lifetime. Collagen is the main structural protein in the various connective tissues such as skin and bone. It makes up about 25 percent of the body proteins in mammals. In recent years, oral collagen supplements have become a popular and trendy treatment of skin health in the world. It has been widely marketed to consumers for purported benefits in wrinkle reduction, skin‐rejuvenation, skin‐aging reversal, and skin plumping.
Mechanisms of Oral Collagen in Skin Health
The tertiary structure of collagen is so complex, and the three chains wind around each other forming a collagen triple helix. These building blocks combine to form collagen fibrils of enormous strength and tensile force. Concerning the possible mechanisms related to oral collagen administration and skin health, three different possible mechanisms [1] could be suggested in this regard:
- Collagen fragments can be a precursor for collagen synthesis in the skin. Direct exposure of collagen-derived peptides after intestinal absorption to fibroblasts could increase synthesis of extracellular matrix.
- Collagen fragments can stimulate collagen and proteoglycans production in the skin.
- Collagen and its fragments could induce regulatory T cells and the induced cells improve skin health parameters by macrophage polarization toward M2-like macrophages and suppression of immune response against endogenous collagen.
Features of Recombinant Human Collagen
Recombinant human collagens have been successfully expressed in cell lines, yeast, and several plant systems, and collagen fragments have been expressed in E. coli. They have a complex supramolecular structure and occur in highly diverse morphologies across different tissues, thus lending them a range of biological functions. They As the fundamental structural component of connective tissues, they play a pivotal role in maintaining their structural and biological integrity. In functional food applications, recombinant human collagen shows the following features:
Source
- Non-animal source
- Vegetarian friendly
Quality
- Batch production
- High purity
- No batch-to-batch quality variability
Safety
- Zero Virus risk
- Low Immunogenicity
- No allergenicity
- No rejection
Alfa Chemistry is a professional synthetic biology company that manufactures recombinant human collagen and other high-value proteins at scale, which can be used in functional food industry. For high quality products and more information, please feel free to contact us.
References
- Barati, M., Jabbari, M., Navekar, R., Farahmand, F., et al. Collagen supplementation for skin health: A mechanistic systematic review. Journal of Cosmetic Dermatology, 2020.
- Jhawar, N., Wang, J. V., & Saedi, N. Oral collagen supplementation for skin aging: A fad or the future? Journal of Cosmetic Dermatology, 2019.
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