How to Overcome the Appearance of Wrinkles

    DNA plays critical role in rejuvenating aging skin.

    by Verreta Deorosan, M.D.

    A graduate of UCLA School of Medicine, Dr. Verratta Deorosan is board certified by the American Board
    of Internal Medicine. She is a primary care physician with two practices in Los Angeles, California. Her
    emphasis is on adult and geriatric medicine with a broad-spectrum alternative/complementary approach.

    A new understanding of what causes skin aging, plus the development of substances that inhibit or
    mitigate premature skin aging, can result in profound changes in the appearance of mature skin.

    Aging gives and takes away: It gives our skin unwanted free radical damage, and it takes away healthy
    collagen, making skin stiff and inflexible and causing wrinkled, dried-out skin. But now, researchers can
    offer new ingredients to help change this look. One of the most promising of these "cosmeceutical"
    ingredients is called Matrixyl®. Indeed, the results of early research on its stunning effects on wrinkled
    skin caused a stir at the 20th World Congress of Dermatology in Paris (Matrixyl® 1999).

    Significant, Progressive Changes

    A six-month study revealed that Matrixyl temporarily produces "a highly significant reduction in the deep
    and moderate wrinkles," the researchers determined. In fact, they documented changes as high as 68%
    (Matrixyl ® 1999). The research left no doubt: Women who had used Matrixyl® throughout the study
    experienced dramatic results. Plus the longer they used it, the better they looked.

    Matrixyl® came into being through the work of two branches of dermatological research; the search for
    substances that accelerate recovery from skin wounds and investigations into what causes wrinkles.
    When skin is wounded, tiny cells called fibroblasts change their characteristics (kind of like changing into
    their work clothes) and help to repair the damaged tissue and assist in the process of forming new tissue.
    Part of the their job is to manufacture new collagen, an important component of connective tissue.

    Fibroblasts never completely lose this ability to create more collagen, even in mature skin. After all, even
    older people's wounds heal eventually. But as you grow older, your collagen levels dwindle, and your taut,
    dewy skin dries out and crinkles. "Wrinkles are nothing more or less than the depletion of collagen in the
    skin," according to Robert Garonne, Professor of Cell Biology at Lyon University in France.

    Acting Like Old Tissue

    Why do skin fibroblasts slow down their collagen production as we get older, even though they can still
    produce it? Scientists found out why: Fibroblasts in aged tissue start acting old themselves. But - and this
    is a big but - when they are isolated from aged tissue in the lab and exposed to the same stimulating
    factors the body uses to kick them into gear, skin fibroblasts once again start producing significant
    quantities of collagen (Matrixyl; 1999).

    With this knowledge, cosmetic scientists started exploring ways to stimulate fibroblasts in living skin on
    living people, not just in petri dishes in the laboratory. Using the most advanced cosmetic technology,
    they developed a five-sided molecule called palmitoyl pentapeptide. This molecular "suitcase" is small
    enough to be absorbed into skin tissue and uses a delivery system that specifically targets skin cells -
    providing door-to-door delivery, as it were. The pentapeptide was then loaded with a precious cargo for
    skin cells: the stimulating factors that get fibroblasts pumping out collagen, plus a unique agent called
    Endonucleine™ (Laboratories Serobiologiques 1989).

    Skin Needs Hydration

    Skin needs water - a great deal of it - to keep its cells plump and saturated with moisture. These
    moisture-saturated skin cells help your skin look firm and taut. As aging skin dries out and loses its
    ability to stay hydrated, your skin turns from looking like peaches to prunes.

    Endonucleine™ helps skin maintain its hydrating ability by supplying natural and synthetic versions of
    skin cells' own genetic material: the nucleic acids DNA and RNA. DNA carries the specific information for
    the cell, including how to hydrate it, while RNA transmits that information. By reconstituting the skin's DNA
    and RNA, Endonucleine has a pronounced hydrating and moisturizing effect on the skin.

    A Classic Double-Blind Study

    Matrixyl®wowed dermatologists at the Paris conference with its demonstrated effects in women. The
    sex-month, double-blind study involved 35 women ages 34 to 72, all of whom had wrinkles (skin experts
    call it "photodamaged skin"). The researchers set five parameters: global area of wrinkles, density of
    furrows, volume of wrinkles, mean depth of the main wrinkle, and roughness of skin. Using sophisticated
    imaging techniques, including photometry and computerized image analysis, they measured these five
    markers at the beginning of the study and two months, for months, and six months later.

    The women were divided into two groups. The first group of 25 women put a cream containing Matrixyl®
    on one side of the face and placebo cream on the other. The other 10 put Matrixyl® cream on one side
    and a commercial vitamin-C cream on the other. None of the women knew which cream contained what.

    The researchers reported, "A highly significant reduction in the deep and moderate wrinkles was obtained
    on the side treated with 3% Matrixyl®. This reduction increased with time, and a difference developed
    from the placebo, which never produced a significant effect. The surface area occupied by deep wrinkles
    was reduced by a mean of 68% over six months. The surface area ccupied by moderate wrinkles was
    reduced by a mean of 51% over six months."

    Regarding the density of furrows, the researchers reported, "This parameter takes into account the length
    of the deepest wrinkles; their total sum relative to the area under analysis us used to define the density
    per unit area. A very marked reduction in the mean density was found for Matrixyl®, whereas the placebo
    tended to have the opposite effect. The resulted produced by Matrixyl® improved with time: -28% after two
    months, -31% after four months, and -47% after six months."

    Big Changes

    The researchers also assessed the volume of wrinkles. To do this, for each subject they selected one of
    the deepest wrinkles, then measured its changes over time. As to their results, they reported that the
    volume of the wrinkle "decreased with time, successively being reduced by 7% (two months), 21% (four
    months), and 24% (six months). The placebo continued to produce no effect."

    Matrixyl® also helped to reduce the roughness of the skin, an effect that became visible after two months
    (010%), which intensified with time to reach -16% after six months."

    Concerning the depth of the main wrinkle, they reported, "This determination is useful because it provides
    a good illustration of the improvement obtained on the most severally affected area of skin. It is therefore
    a rigorous criterion for evaluating the efficacy of the product. The mean depth of the wrinkle decreased
    throughout the treatment."

    Self-Evaluation of Female Subjects

    The women reported that Matrixyl® "produces lasting moisturizing of the skin," "makes the skin smoother,"
    "makes the skin more supple," and "reduces wrinkles and lines," These and their own results led the
    researchers to conclude that their study demonstrates "the long-term anti-wrinkle activity of Matrixyl®. The
    parameters used to compare the Matrixyl® cream with the placebo cream were significant throughout the
    treatment. These differences increased with time, which indicates that the physiological activity of the
    peptide in the skin was progressive."

    There you have it. We now have a golden opportunity to look as good as we feel - and for far longer. After
    all, many of us have reached another one of those irritating milestones: The clerk no longer asks to see
    your ID when you buy that bottle of wine. He doesn't see how young at heart you are. All he sees are the
    years on your face.

    "Don't deny your age. Defy it!" actress Melanie Griffith urges in a popular TV ad. With Matrixyl® you can defy
    the premature signs of aging, by reminding your skin cells what they're supposed to do: stay hydrated and
    produce collagen. It just took 21st-century technology to figure out how to do it, and now we all can reap
    the benefits. I can hardly wait to tell my patients.

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