COLLACTIVE™
Marine collagen and elastin peptides
 
Hydration
Anti-ageing

COLLACTIVE™  is  composed  of  marine collagen and elastin peptides in the same ratio as in the dermis.
 
COLLACTIVE™  combines  the  two  main constituents  of  the  extracellular  matrix  and has  an  anti-wrinkle  synergic  action:  elastin fibres  give  the  dermis  suppleness  that completes collagen fibres tensile strength.
 
COLLACTIVE™  polypeptides  have  a  low molecular  weight,  making  it  soluble  in aqueous  phase  and  fully  digestible. COLLACTIVE™ is ideal for nutricosmetics.

COLLACTIVE™ REINFORCES SKIN HYDRATION
 
The moisturizing effect of COLLACTIVE™ is supported by a clinical study involving 43 women over
40  years  old.  The  results  show  an  increase  of  the  entire  epidermis  hydration  (+8%)  after  oral
administration of COLLACTIVE™ for 3 months.

• COLLACTIVE™ HELPS MATURE SKIN BUILD LIFT AND FIRMING CUSHION
 
COLLACTIVE™  collagen  and  elastin polypeptides  stimulate  the  biosynthesis of  dermis  main constituents  to  lift  and tone slacking areas.
 
COLLACTIVE™  minimizes  apparent lines  and  wrinkles  as  per  the  results  of the clinical study (see graph).
 
On  D84,  the  skin  was  exposed  to  cold temperatures, which explain the  weaker anti-wrinkle  effect  at  this  period.  The results  highlight  the  protective  effect  of COLLACTIVE™  against  the  harsh conditions in winter.

While  life  is  increasingly  stressful,  time  and  serenity  are  becoming  a  priority  among
consumers  and  health,  beauty  and  wellbeing  tend  to  be  perceived  as  a  whole.  There  is  an
increasing crossover between the idea of inner and outer wellbeing, inner and outer beauty. In
such a context, COPALIS has developed a natural oral cosmetic active that meets new market
demand for nutricosmetics.
 
- INTRODUCTION -
 
Skin  characteristics  are  known  to  be  affected  by  endogenous  and  environmental  factors,  including
aging,  exposure  to  sunlight,  chemicals,  and  mechanical  damage.  To  maintain  and  improve  skin
condition,  a  wide  variety  of  skin-care  products  are  on  the  market.  However,  many  skin  problems
originate  from  endogenous  sources  and  food  intake  is  frequently  mentioned  as  influencing  skin
condition. Part of our knowledge of the relation between nutrients and skin comes from the incidence
of  skin  problems  as  a  result  of  nutritional  deficiencies.  But  it  has  also  been  shown  that  the
optimization of the diet improve skin condition[1, 2, 3].
A  study[2]  illustrated  that  skin  wrinkling  in  a  sun-exposed  site  in  older  people  of  various  ethnic
backgrounds  is  influenced  by  the  types  of  foods  consumed:  32%  of  the  variance  was  predicted  by
food intake. Oils, fish, vegetables and cereals appeared to be protective

- Being the most abundant protein of the human body, collagen supplementation has been widely
studied. It has been reported that the oral ingestion of collagen peptides affects various functions of
the  body.  For  example,  lower  bone  mineral  density  in  protein  malnutrition  and  joint  disease  are
improved by ingestion of collagen peptides[4,5]. It has also been reported that hair thickness increased
after  prolonged  ingestion  of  collagen  peptides[6]  and  that  nail  disorders,  such  as  brittle  nails,  were
improved by collagen peptides intake[7].

-  In  the  dermis  collagen  peptides  supplementation  has  been  widely  studied.  Matsuda  et  al.[8]  first
showed that the water absorption ability of the skin stratum corneum of 20 volunteers increased after
the daily ingestion of 10g of collagen peptides for 60 days. They then showed that collagen peptide
supplementation for 62 days induces the increase of fibroblasts density and the increase of collagen
fibrils  size  the  density  of fibroblasts,  and  diameter  and  density  of  collagen fibrils  in  the  dermis[9]:  the
ingestion  of  collagen  peptides  improves  the  mechanical  strength  of  the  skin  in  a  collagen-specific
manner. Taken together,  these results suggest  that  the  daily  ingestion  of  collagen  peptide  improves
the function of both the epidermis and the dermis.
 
-  The  effects  of  the  daily  ingestion  of  a  collagen  hydrolysate  mixture  (including  5g  of  type  I  fish
collagen hydrolysate) on the skin properties of 25 women with dry and rough skin were also studied
by Matsumoto et al.[10]. They observed their skin properties before and after 6 weeks of ingestion. The
following improvements were noted:
o increase of the moisture of the face cheeks, the forearms and the back of the neck
o improvement of the viscoelastic properties (pliability and elasticity)
o skin smoothness, skin wrinkles and skin roughness values improvement (on the cheeks area)
 
- CHARACTERISATION OF COLLACTIVE™ MOLECULES -
 
COLLACTIVE™  is  composed  of  marine  collagen  and  elastin  peptides  in  the  same  ratio  as  in  the
dermis.
 
Collagen  peptides  stem  from  the  hydrolysis  of  a  type  1  collagen,  characterised  by  its  triple  helix
structure with two identical polypeptide chains (α1(1)) and a third that is genetically different (α 2(1)).
Each  of  the  chains  is  composed  of  a  sequence  of  amino  acids  where  the  sub-unit  Glycine-X-Y  is
repeated.  Glycine  therefore  represents  35%  of  all  amino  acids.  Proline  and  hydroxyproline  are  also
present at levels of respectively 13% and 8% of the total amino acids.
COLLACTIVE™  collagen  is  very  similar  to  human  skin  collagen.  Indeed  the  dermis  predominantly
contains type I collagen (85 to 90%).
 
Elastin  is  a macropolymeric  protein.  Highly  insoluble  and  extensively  cross-linked,  mature  elastin  is
formed  from  tropoelastin,  its  soluble  precursor.  Tropoelastin  is  an  <70-kDa  protein  consisting  of  an
alternance of hydrophobic regions, responsible for elasticity, and cross-linking domains. Additionally,
it ends with a hydrophilic carboxy-terminal sequence containing its only two cysteine residues.
 
Collagen and elastin fibers within the skin (figure 2)
Collagen  and  elastin  are  abundant fibrous  proteins  in  the  skin.  Many  rodlike  collagen molecules are
cross-linked together in the extracellular space to form collagen fibrils that have the tensile strength of
steel.  The  striping  on  the  collagen  fibril  is  caused  by  the  regular  repeating  arrangement  of  the
collagen  molecules  within  the  fibril.  Elastin  polypeptide  chains  are  cross-linked  together  to  form
rubberlike, elastic fibers. Each elastin molecule uncoils into a more extended conformation when the
fibre is stretched and will recoil spontaneously as soon as the stretching force is relaxed.
Elastin fibres give the dermis suppleness that completes collagen fibres tensile strength.

In  the  dermis,  collagen  fibres  form  70%  of the  total  proteins  and  are  the  main constituents of the extracellular matrix along with elastin fibres. Degradation  of  these  two  types  of  fibres  is responsible  for  the  appearance  of  wrinkles and skin ageing.

- HIGH DIGESTIBILITY OF COLLACTIVE™ PEPTIDES -
 
Hydrolysed collagen and elastin of COLLACTIVE™ can easily be digested due to the peptide nature
of these molecules. Published research has shown that collagen, in its hydrolysed form, can be easily
absorbed.  This  property  makes  COLLACTIVE™  effective  and  beneficial  at  low  doses  in  dietary
formulas.
Several studies[11,12] have shown that a substantial increase of collagen specific amino acids in serum
is observed after subsequent oral administration of hydrolysed collagen. Iwai et al.[12] identified a small
peptide  (Pro-Hyp)  in  the  serum  and  plasma  of  healthy  human  volunteers  who  ingested  collagen
hydrolysates.
These  results  show  that  the  oral  administration  of  COLLACTIVE™  offers  a  useful  source  of  amino
acids for collagen and elastin biosynthesis.
 
- COLLACTIVE™ PEPTIDES ANTI-AGEING PROPERTIES -
 
The  tolerance,  the  anti-wrinkle  and  the  moisturizing  properties  of  the  daily  ingestion  of
COLLACTIVE™ were assessed through a simple insu and parallel group clinical study.
 
MATERIAL & METHODS
 
Tested products
COLLACTIVE™ was put in capsules for its oral administration.
Placebo capsules contained maltodextrin.
 
Study design
A simple insu / parallel group study was performed on 43 healthy volunteers. Inclusion criteria were:
- Sex: female
- Age: between 40 and 55 years old
- Subjects with wrinkles on crow’s-feet

 
Volunteers were not allowed to use any anti-wrinkle product on the measurement skin area (the use
of  this  kind  of  product  less  than  a  month  before  the  trial  starting  date  was  an  exclusion  criteria  as
well).
Two  grams  per  day  of  either  COLLACTIVE™  or placebo  were  ingested with  a glass  of  water for  84
days. The subjects’ skin conditions were measured at day 0, day 28 and day 84.
 
Assessment criteria
Measurements were done on the forearm and the face.
The anti wrinkles effect was evaluated by the measurement of the variation of different parameters of
the cutaneous relief with Skin Image Analyser® and with Quantirides® software:
1.  furrows of cutaneous microrelief (number and depth)
2.  medium wrinkles (number and depth)
3.  deep wrinkles (number and depth)
The cutaneous hydration rate was assessed using Hydrascan® and Corneometer®.
The cutaneous tolerance was evaluated through a clinical examination and volunteers were asked to
fill a questionnaire to know their subjective evaluation.