New Laminin Peptide for Innovative Skin Care Cosmetics

By: E. Bauza, C. Dal Farra, F. Portolan and N. Domloge, Vincience Research Center

Posted: May 6, 2003, from the March 2003 issue of Cosmetics & Toiletries.

Epidermal basement membrane is a specialized cutaneous zone of extracellular matrix (ECM) that separates the epidermis from the dermis. The membrane, however, serves more than simple structural and filtering roles.

The basement membrane contains specific structures that ensure the stability of the connection and communication between the two major skin compartments, the epidermis and the dermis. Among these structures we find different molecules, such as collagen IV and laminin.

Laminin represents a family of diverse critical multifunctional molecules, and is a very important component of the extracellular matrix. Laminin plays a critical role in cell behavior, is a potent cell adhesion molecule, and its defects are involved in some skin pathologies.

Laminin is an essential constituent of the basement membrane and plays a primordial role together with the basement membrane in cell communication, adhesion and cutaneous regeneration. Moreover, recent studies have confirmed the involvement of the basement membrane in skin aging due to the early alteration of the membrane’s constituents during the aging process.

Therefore, we were interested in developing a lamininlike peptide for topical skin care and cosmetics. In this paper, we describe in vitro studies concerning the properties of the new laminin peptide and its effects on human skin cells.

Laminin is made of multidomain glycoproteins and is thus directly involved in many biological functions. To date, many laminin isoforms have been identified. They are large disulfide-bonded heterotrimers composed of three genetically distinct polypeptide chains: alpha, beta, and gamma. For the complete article, click on "Purchase this article."

This is only an excerpt of the full article that appeared in Cosmetics & Toiletries, but you can purchase the full-text version.