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The Peptide Clinic

Skin, hair and collagen peptide research

Everything on this page describes laboratory research. Compounds named here are supplied for in-vitro and analytical work by verified researchers only. None is a registered medicine in South Africa, none is approved for human or veterinary use, and nothing on this page is guidance for use in a person.

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This area covers peptides studied for their interaction with the structural and signalling biology of skin: collagen synthesis, the behaviour of dermal fibroblasts, the enzymes that break the matrix back down, and the follicle. Much of the published work is cell culture and ex-vivo skin models, and a result measured in cultured fibroblasts describes those cells rather than intact human skin.

CompoundsGHK-Cu
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What the research measures

Collagen synthesis

Production of type I and type III collagen by fibroblasts in culture, usually quantified by assay or by staining rather than by appearance.

Matrix metalloproteinases

Activity of the enzymes that degrade the extracellular matrix. Matrix turnover is a balance, so the breakdown side is measured alongside synthesis.

Antioxidant behaviour

Response to oxidative stress in cell models, which is where a large share of the copper-peptide literature sits.

Follicle models

Hair follicle organ culture and dermal papilla cell work, a smaller and less settled body of literature than the dermal research.

Compounds studied in this area

GHK-Cu

Copper tripeptide-1

A tripeptide of glycine, histidine and lysine that forms a complex with copper(II). The sequence occurs naturally in human plasma, and its concentration there is reported to fall with age, which is the observation most of the research interest grew out of.

Published work examines collagen and glycosaminoglycan synthesis in fibroblast culture, modulation of matrix metalloproteinase activity, antioxidant behaviour, and wound-model outcomes. The copper complex rather than the bare peptide is generally the studied species, since the metal is central to the proposed mechanism.

Laboratory handling and storage

Lyophilised peptide is the stable form. It is normally held below freezing and protected from light.

Copper complexes are sensitive to pH and to chelating agents in the buffer, so reconstitution conditions are reported in the literature more carefully than for most peptides.

Repeated freeze and thaw cycles degrade peptide integrity, so single-use aliquots are the standard practice.

Handling, reconstitution and disposal are laboratory procedures and should follow the receiving facility's own written procedures and local regulations.

Further reading