Anti-AgingPeer Reviewed

Effect of oligoarginine conjugation on the antiwrinkle activity and transdermal delivery of GHK peptide.

Authors (6)
Ga-Hee HurDepartment of Medical Sciences, Soonchunhyang University, Asan, Republic of Korea.
Sang-Cheol HanDepartment of Material Laboratory, Dermafirm Co., Ltd., Wonju, Republic of Korea.
A-Reum RyuDepartment of Medical Sciences, Soonchunhyang University, Asan, Republic of Korea.
Youngsic EomDepartment of Medical Sciences, Soonchunhyang University, Asan, Republic of Korea.
Journal of peptide science : an official publication of the European Peptide Society
Unknown
Published
Oct 13, 2025
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Abstract

GHK (Gly-His-Lys), a natural peptide found in human skin and plasma, has been widely used in the cosmeceutical and pharmaceutical fields. The hydrophilic GHK and GHK-Cu are limited in their abilities to penetrate deeply into skin; because of this, various strategies for their skin delivery have been developed. In this investigation, Arg was conjugated with GHK to get heptapeptide, GHK-R4, and then in vitro antiwrinkle activity and transdermal delivery were compared between GHK and GHK-R4. Notably, Arg conjugation accelerated the cellular penetration of GHK both in vitro and in vivo. Furthermore, higher in vitro antiwrinkle activity and collagen biosynthesis was obtained with GHK-R4 at much lower doses than with control R4-free GHK. The enhanced activity and delivery of GHK-R4 might be due to the cell penetrating ability and matrix metalloproteinase (MMP) inhibitory activity of R4 itself.

Keywords

Administration, CutaneousCell LineCell-Penetrating PeptidesCollagenHumansMatrix MetalloproteinasesOligopeptidesPeptidesSkin Aging

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