Bioactive peptides as a component of anti-aging cosmetics

Ageing is a natural part of every human life cycle. During ageing there are lots of changes in the organism. One of the main pillars of the cosmetics industry is the development of active compounds that are fighting signs of skin ageing. The components as bioactive peptides are considered to be promising anti-ageing products, mainly because of the possibility to precisely define their chemical structure and therefore achieve more effective biological targeting. One of the signs of skin ageing is the weakening of the connections between epidermal cells and the extracellular matrix, decreasing expression of adhesion molecules and molecular components of dermo-epidermal connection. The most abundant adhesive receptors in the skin are integrins. Their ligands are extracellular matrix molecules, e. g. laminin or fibronectin. The minimal recognition sequence of integrins receptors is the amino acid motif arginine- glycine- aspartic acid (RGD). This sequence is also very interesting in terms of cosmetic applications because it provides the ability to create new and effective bioactive peptides. The subject of present work is basic safety testing of four peptides with RGD motif. A sequence of three peptides was modified by addition of glycine amino acids, or alanine. The expected effect was to improve interaction with integrin receptors. In each of the sample, levels of endotoxin was determined in order to exclude any possible interfering effects on the viability of cells. Subsequently, in NIH3T3 mouse fibroblasts viability was monitored by MTT assay and morphology. The quantity of obtained protein had been determined to increase data interpretation relevance