The collagen file
GHK-Cu collagen experiments
The collagen experiment rewards my fondness for small, answerable questions.
Human fibroblast cultures, 1988
In the 1988 experiment, GHK-Cu stimulated collagen synthesis in cultured human fibroblasts. Fibroblasts are the connective-tissue cells used here. Stimulation began between 10^-12 and 10^-11 M and was maximal at 10^-9 M; M expresses the concentration in the culture medium. These are experimental concentrations.
The response occurred without a change in cell number. That clause makes the result more satisfying to me: the investigators had observed a specific metabolic effect, rather than simply ending up with more cells making material.
There is an intimacy to this experiment that the phrase ‘anti-aging’ loses. A particular cell population, a substance in its medium, a change in collagen synthesis. I can take that seriously without asking it to account for the appearance of an entire face.
Matrix remodelling
I had pictured repair as an exercise in adding material. The tissue-remodelling review makes that picture look too simple. Across the human and animal studies it discusses, GHK-Cu is associated with increased synthesis of collagen and elastin, but also metalloproteinases and anti-proteases.
The matrix is the material around cells. Its remodelling involves breakdown as well as synthesis. I rate the broader activity as its most interesting feature; the phrase ‘collagen booster’ leaves much of the subject out.
That is also where enthusiasm needs some discipline. A review assembling different models offers a larger biological account than the original culture experiment. The work described spans settings with different demands. The complexity persuades me, while the size of its cosmetic effect remains a separate question.
Other matrix materials
The skin-regeneration review describes dermatan sulfate, chondroitin sulfate and decorin synthesis alongside collagen. The list helps explain why these papers talk about remodelling a tissue rather than manufacturing a single ingredient.
This is the GHK-Cu account I enjoy most: experiments about a material and its upkeep. A wrinkle result would be welcome evidence of something visible, but the culture work already has an intelligible subject of its own.
The next file moves to cosmetic skin outcomes, where the meaning of an increase has to become more exact again. A response in cultured cells and a change measured in treated subjects each deserve their own space.