Cosmeceuticals: Palmitoyl tetrapeptide-7

Palmitoyl tetrapeptide-7 (formerly known as palmitoyl tetrapeptide-3 for some reason) is another polypeptide we can find as a cosmeceutical, although it seems the only place I've been able to find it is in Matrixyl 3000 as palmitoyl GQPR (glycine-glutamine-proline-arganine connected to palmitic acid). It's attached to the palmitic acid to make it more oil solubility and to increase the chances of skin penetration.

It can slow the production of excessive interleukins, a group of cytokines (which are secreted proteins or signalling molecules) that promote inflammation in our skin. We know inflammation isn't a great thing - it can lead to degradation of skin's elasticity - and it appears that this polypeptide can help reduce the production of these interleukins, at least inside our skin.

I couldn't find any good studies to show that this polypeptide does what it says it does, other than in documents I found from the company itself.

Join me tomorrow a look at Matrixyl 3000.