ABSTRACT
SIGNAL PEPTIDES Peptides with the ability to increase fibroblast production of collagen or decrease collagenase breakdown of existing collagen should potentially improve the clinical appearance of fine and course wrinkles visible in both chronologically and photoaged skin. Advanced research into the cellular and biochemical processes of aging and wounded skin is resulting in new strategies to manipulate these processes for therapeutic clinical effect. As wound healing and genomic research continues, certain bioactive amino acid chains have been discovered, which stimulate human skin dermal fibroblast growth in vitro. The use of signal peptides in commercial products has significantly risen in recent years. Peptides in the skin have been shown in vitro to: (i) stimulate the production of extracellular matrix components including collagen, elastin and fibronectin and (ii) decrease the production of glycosaminoglycans (GAGs) as illustrated in Figure 3.1 .
