Cosmetological ingredient Sh-Oligopeptide-72

Tatyana MARTYNOVSKAYA, dermatovenerologist, cosmetologist at the Adassa Medical Cosmetology and Minimally Invasive Surgery Clinic , employee of the Emet training center Medicine (Ukraine)

Today there is a fairly clear understanding of the processes of skin aging, changes in the condition of cells and the intercellular matrix. And at the same time, modern science is developing, moving in search of opportunities to influence these processes. The synthesized cosmetic ingredient sh-Oligopeptide-72 (Wharton Jelly Peptide P199), which is part of the Meso-Wharton P199™ drug, is able to stimulate the division and differentiation of skin stem cells, prolonging its youth.

Until recently, one of the main opportunities to influence skin renewal were procedures that increased the pool of the main cells of the dermis - fibroblasts and their waste products - by stimulating cell synthesis and division.

However, this approach has limitations, since constant stimulation of fibroblast division leads to depletion of the cellular resource, since the fibroblast is not able to divide indefinitely, it is limited by the Hayflick effect (on average - 52 divisions)

That is why cosmetology, like classical medicine, feels the need to look for new safe opportunities to influence renewal processes , stimulating the body’s own resources to be able to stop aging. This approach corresponds to a new trend in anti-aging medicine - the concept of selfregeneration , the main idea and mechanisms of which is the impact on one’s own stem cells in order to obtain a new young pool of cells with a new division limit.

Medicine is looking for safe opportunities to influence renewal processes. Selfregeneration proposes to influence a person’s own stem cells to obtain a young pool of cells with a new division limit

Thanks to the development of biotechnological methods for obtaining human peptides, their high-quality production has become possible. In this regard, the potential role of synthesized recombinant human polypeptides in dermatology and dermatocosmetology has recently been actively discussed. These substances are non-xenogeneic , do not pose an infectious risk and can be produced in large quantities. Of particular interest are peptides characteristic of the tissues of the umbilical cord, an organ rich in stem cells.

The sh-Oligopeptide-72 compound is a synthetic analogue of a polypeptide widely present in human umbilical cord tissue

This compound is of a polypeptide nature and is considered as a stimulator of division and differentiation of stem cells of the epidermis, dermis and hypodermis .

At the beginning of 2018, an article was published in the Ukrainian Journal of Dermatology, Venereology, Cosmetology on a study of the effect of sh-Oligopeptide-72 on the functional state of fibroblasts and mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs), conducted at the D. F. Chebotarev Institute of Gerontology of the National Academy of Medical Sciences Ukraine" (Kyiv). The goal of the work was to determine the effect of the cosmetic ingredient sh-Oligopeptide-72 on the activity and migration ability of skin MSCs and fibroblasts in vitro.

A primary culture of fibroblasts and MSCs was obtained from the dermis and hypodermis of healthy donors aged 40 years. During the study, the metabolic, migratory and proliferative activity of cells was studied using the MTT test and the wound healing test. According to the results of the study, sh-Oligopeptide-72 exhibits neither a toxic nor a stimulating effect on differentiated mature fibroblasts, that is, it is not able to increase their division and synthesis and, accordingly, does not lead to depletion of cellular resources .

On the contrary, MSCs of the human dermis and hypodermis turned out to be highly sensitive to the action of the polypeptide ; in the presence of this ingredient, both the metabolic and migratory activity of MSCs increased, which was ultimately expressed in an increase in the cell pool of young fibroblasts with a new division limit.

The study showed the specificity of the effect of sh-Oligopeptide-72 on the migration and metabolic activity of MSCs , as well as the absence of a significant effect of the studied concentrations on skin fibroblasts.

The effects of mesotherapy drugs containing sh-Oligopeptide-72 can be explained precisely by the influence of the substance on the migratory activity of MSCs, which are recruited from the deep layers of the subcutaneous base or dermis and, probably, differentiating into fibroblasts, restore the depleted cell pool, and then remodel the matrix component, synthesizing collagens of various types, elastin and glycosaminoglycans. The lack of a stimulating effect of the drug on mature fibroblasts may be caused by its inability to activate mitochondrial respiration processes

The findings from the study suggest that adult dermal fibroblasts are insensitive to various concentrations of sh-Oligopeptide-72. It exhibits neither toxic nor stimulatory effects on differentiated fibroblasts. The peptide mobilizes and stimulates the metabolic and migratory activity of mesenchymal stem cells of the human dermis, but not its mature fibroblasts.

This approach to influence the processes of self-renewal, or self-regeneration, is a new branch in the development of cosmetology and makes it possible to stop the aging process, restoring the functional indicators of the skin without depleting the cellular resource by activating the work of one’s own mesenchymal stem cells of the dermis and hypodermis.

The proven and understandable mechanism of activation of migration, division and differentiation of mesenchymal stem cells also explains the rationality of introducing the stimulating peptide sh-Oligopeptide-72 into both the dermis and hypodermis.

First published in " Les Nouvelles Esthétiques Ukraine" No. 6 (112) 2018