Copper Peptides and GHK

Peptides are widely popular cosmetic ingredients. They achieve instant improvement of skin’s appearance by moisturising skin and conditioning its surface layer and they are shown to possess various biological activity. Because of their small size, some of them are able to penetrate the stratum corneum. Copper peptides are small peptides under a molecular weight of 700 Da that are chelated to copper 2+.

They may be synthesised by chemical means or produced by enzymatic digestion of proteins. Such peptides have an excellent safety profile and can heal wounds, improve the condition of skin, and increase hair growth in young mice.

Numerous studies confirmed the ability of copper peptides to improve condition of aging skin, which make them indispensable in anti-aging and protective cosmetic products.

The most studied regenerative copper peptide is GHK (Glycyl-l-Histidyl-l-Lysine). It has a high affinity for copper ions and usually exists as a copper complex GHK-Cu. The most well-studied activities of GHK-Cu are its wound-healing and skin regenerative actions. It has been shown to greatly improve conditions of aging skin; reducing wrinkles and sagging skin, reducing pigmentation, and stimulating collagen, elastin, and Glycosaminoglycans.

The author of this article, Pickart was first to isolate GHK from albumin fraction in human plasma in 1973. When plasma from young donors was added to liver cells from older donors, they started making proteins more characteristic to younger donors. An active component from plasma, which possessed the same properties, was identified as a Glycyl-l-Histidyl-l-lysine peptide

GHK, which is naturally present in human blood, declines with age. Early research showed that GHK stimulates synthesis of collagen, elastin, and Glycosaminoglycans in skin, accelerates wound healing, restores function of damaged fibroblasts, reduces scarring, and improves regeneration of skin, stomach, and intestinal linings. GHK stimulates hair growth and is used to improve outcomes in hair grafting.

It has been suggested by Peled et al. that copper-free GHK promotes the survival of stem cells and possibly the de-differentiation of cells, while GHK with copper 2+ promotes cell differentiation.

The understanding of GHK actions has been greatly aided by the use of gene expression data. In 2010, the Broad Institute of Boston measured the effects of GHK on 13,424 of the estimated 22,277 known human genes at that time. This provided us with expression of 4192 genes with plus or minus 50% changes from the 13,424 genes. This led to consecutive studies, which confirmed that GHK-Cu is able to up- and down-regulate a significant number of human genes, essentially resetting the human genome back to health

The fact that GHK has gene-modulating effects is important, because as science has now demonstrated, age-related changes in gene expression are not permanent and can be reversed. Recent studies have demonstrated that physical exercise for 30 min a day, three times a week can revert gene expression in mitochondrial human DNA in older humans to a gene expression that is more like that of a younger person. Other studies showed positive effects of diet, moderate wine consumption, and meditation.

Among factors that can accelerate skin aging and cause skin cancer are reactive oxygen species, and other types of free radicals, which can trigger oxidative processes and lead to DNA damage. Since skin is exposed to UV-radiation and other environmental factors that can trigger production of free radicals, it is essential that it has good antioxidant defense. Multiple studies established GHK-Cu’s ability to protect cells from oxidative damage and improve antioxidant defense.

Small copper peptides, which have a long history of being used in skin care products and an excellent safety record, as well as possess well-documented wound healing, tissue repair and remodeling, anti-inflammatory, anti-antioxidant, and DNA repair properties, are now attracting attention as potent gene modulators, which can reverse expression of multiple genes involved in biochemical pathways associated with cancer growth and progression. Such peptides are inexpensive, can be easily incorporated in liposomes and other vehicles and applied as skin creams, serums, patches, etc. Copper-peptides can be also taken orally as a dietary supplement in liposomal form.

Please be aware that this does not mean that you can rush out seeking specifically, injectable copper peptides or similar. Like any other substance, getting the dose wrong and/ or not taking account of any specific factors relevant to you as an individual, can easily result in severe complications. This is an interesting field but you must seek advice, guidance and treatment from a properly qualified skin care professional/ Dermatologist ... and certainly NOT social media!

NOT MY OWN WORK. Taken from: (italics, here, are mine)

Pickart, L.; Margolina, A. Skin Regenerative and Anti-Cancer Actions of Copper Peptides. Cosmetics 2018, 5, 29. https://doi.org/10.3390/cosmetics5020029

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