Conclusion

The field of anti-aging cosmetic ingredients has progressed from that of cosmeceuticals to cosmoleculars ^TM.Much work still needs to be done, including developing assays in vitro that emulate actual chronologically aged skin. Thus far, all aged skin that is studied in cell culture is aged by UV irradiation, which is a photoaging model. In addition, when looking at collagenpromoting behaviors, fibroblast cell cultures do not emulate skin; skin is not in a state of active wound healing and fibroblast expansion under normal circumstances.

The use of growth factors in skin care, though sold in many products, is still quite early in its development. There is only one growth factor that is FDA approved for clinical use in wound healing, and that is platelet-derived growth factor (PDGF). It took approximately 35 years for the approval of PDGF, and yet many other growth factors are being used in skin care. Far more work needs to be done to prove they penetrate the skin as they are quite large. After proving skin penetration, safety must be of primary concern since there are multiple receptors that are up- and down-regulated.We do know what some of these receptors are; however, there are many more that remain unknown. Therefore, much more work needs to be done in this area.

As our knowledge and technology continue to grow, so will our use of peptide fragments and DNA oligopeptides. This is the cosmolecular ^TM connection of skin care still in its infancy but which points to an exciting future.