Understanding The Technology of Peptides

More than 15 years after making their introduction in the cosmetic market place as effective clinical ingredients, peptides have gone from being buzzwords to being recognized as industry staples. While many professional skin therapists and consumers have heard of them, few fully understand the dramatic benefits that can be achieved by these high-performance ingredients, and what they hold for the future of professional skin care. This article will review the structure and function of cosmetic peptides, as well as some family classifi­cations. It will also highlight several proven commercially available peptides for the professional to offer to the client consumer.

Peptide Chemistry

Peptides can be defined as short chains of amino acids linked together in what’s known as the amine or peptide bond. Amino acids themselves are primarily composed of four elements: carbon, oxygen, nitrogen, and hydrogen, with a few exceptions. There are 20 “standard” amino acids, playing various roles in skin health, which can be found functioning throughout the many layers of the skin. These include lysine, proline, valine, glycine, tyrosine, glutamine and several others. These individual amino acids can be found in many cosmetic formulations for their own unique individual purposes. When these amino acids are hooked together in precise sequences, they open up a new world of high-performance ingredients with special bonds. When properly formulated, peptides have the ability to help skin care professionals effectively address almost every issue that we associate with skin irregula­rities including wrinkles, hyperpig­mentation, acne, rosacea, cellulite and many more.

Each amino acid has a portion of its structure that is positive (amine group) and a portion that is negative (carboxyl group). This is the key to understanding how peptides are made. In this case, as in many others, opposites attract. The positive of one amino acid will conjoin with the negative of another, creating the peptide bond. During this bond, water is produced as a byproduct. Figure 1 shows two amino acids bonded together.

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