Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2022 Dec 12:10:1087363.
doi: 10.3389/fbioe.2022.1087363. eCollection 2022.

A nanohybrid synthesized by polymeric assembling Au(I)-peptide precursor for anti-wrinkle function

Dan Liu  1 , Yinong Huang  2 , Jian Mao  3   4 , Cheng Jiang  3   4 , Lei Zheng  3   4 , Qimei Wu  3   4 , Hong Cai  4 , Xiaojing Liu  1 , Jingyao Dai  4   5
Affiliations

A nanohybrid synthesized by polymeric assembling Au(I)-peptide precursor for anti-wrinkle function

Dan Liu et al. Front Bioeng Biotechnol. .

Abstract

A major sign of aging is wrinkles (dynamic lines and static lines) on the surface of the skin. In spite of Botulinum toxin's favorable therapeutic effect today, there have been several reports of its toxicity and side effects. Therefore, the development of an effective and safe wrinkle-fighting compound is imperative. An antioxidant-wrinkle effect was demonstrated by the peptide that we developed and synthesized, termed Skin Peptide. Aiming at the intrinsic defects of the peptide such as hydrolysis and poor membrane penetration, we developed a general approach to transform the Skin Peptide targeting intracellular protein-protein interaction into a bioavailable peptide-gold spherical nano-hybrid, Skin Pcluster. As expected, the results revealed that Skin Pcluster reduced the content of acetylcholine released by neurons in vitro, and then inhibit neuromuscular signal transmission. Additionally, human experiments demonstrated a significant de-wrinkle effect. Moreover, Skin Pcluster is characterized by a reliable safety profile. Consequently, anti-wrinkle peptides and Skin Pcluster nanohybrids demonstrated innovative anti-wrinkle treatments and have significant potential applications.

Keywords: anti-aging; anti-wrinkle; biomaterial; nanohybrid; peptide.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest. The handling editor JY declared a shared parent affiliation with the authors DL and XL at the time of the review.

Figures

FIGURE 1
FIGURE 1
The schematic diagram for synthesis and biological function of Skin Pcluster. Firstly, a bionic peptide called Skin peptide was designed and synthesized. Then, the bioavailable peptide-gold spherical nano-hybrid, Skin Pcluster, was synthesized by self-assembled nanoengineering strategy. Skin Pcluster, similar to botulinum toxin and acetylhexapeptide-8, competitively binded Rph3A to inhibit the release of acetylcholine and then reduce wrinkles caused by excessive contraction of muscle.
FIGURE 2
FIGURE 2
Characterization of Skin Pcluster. (A) The molecular weight of the Skin Peptide was identified by electrospray ionization mass spectrometry. (B) Retention time and purity of Skin Peptide was quantitatively analyzed by high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) on a C18 column at 214 nm. (C) UV-vis spectra of Skin Peptide, Skin Pparticle and Skin Pcluster. The characteristic absorption peaks of Au-SR and alpha-Arbutin (aromatic compound) were visualized at 520 nm and 283nm, respectively. (D) FTIR spectra of the Skin Peptide, Skin Pparticle and Skin Pcluster were determined after lyophilization. Three absorption peaks at 3279 cm−1, 2900 cm−1 and 1650 cm−1 demonstrated the stretching vibration of N-H, CH2-SR, and C=O, respectively. (E) Hydrodynamic diameter distributions of the Skin Pparticle and Skin Pcluster were performed by dynamic light scattering. (F) The surface charge (Zeta potential) of the Skin Pparticle and Skin Pcluster was measured in PBS at pH7.4. (G) TEM images of the Skin Pparticle and Skin Pcluster were obtained by a CCD camera. The red circles represent magnification-related regions of the Skin Pparticle and Skin Pcluster. (H) Elemental analysis of Skin Pcluster was recorded by HRTEM.
FIGURE 3
FIGURE 3
Stability of Skin Pcluster and the release of acetylcholine induced by Skin Peptide. (A) The release of alpha-Arbutin from Skin Pcluster in the supernatant was determined by UV-vis spectroscopy. (B) The release of Skin Peptide was detected in PBS containing 10 μM or 10 mM GSH at different times. (C) The measurement of acetylcholine in the supernatant. Data were shown as mean ± sem (n = 3). P values were obtained by t-test.
FIGURE 4
FIGURE 4
Study on paralytic relaxation of gastrocnemius in C57BL/6 mice. (A) The photographs of feet were recorded at 1h and 2 h after injection. (B,C) The effects of Skin Pcluster on gastrocnemius paralysis in mice were measured by force and drop distance with a digital force gauge. Statistic data were represented as mean ± sem (n = 4 or 5/group). P values were obtained by t-test.
FIGURE 5
FIGURE 5
Anti-wrinkle effect of Skin Pcluster in humans. (A,B) Before and after the treatment with eye cream (including 10% Skin Pcluster), VISIA was used to visualize the wrinkles around the eyes of the recruited volunteers. The number of wrinkles was quantified. (C) The representative photographs of healthy subjects’ neck and hand before and after treatment with essence containing 10% Skin Pcluster. (D) Images of facial wrinkles treated with a cream containing 10% Skin Pcluster. (E,F) Images of wrinkles around the eyes and on the forehead of the recruited volunteers were obtained by VISIA before and after treatment with eye cream containing 10% Skin Pcluster. p values were obtained by t-test.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Acar H., Ting J. M., Srivastava S., LaBelle J. L., Tirrell M. V. (2017). Molecular engineering solutions for therapeutic peptide delivery. Chem. Soc. Rev. 46 (21), 6553–6569. 10.1039/c7cs00536a - DOI - PubMed
    1. Battini L., Fidalgo D. M., Alvarez D. E., Bollini M. (2021). Discovery of a potent and selective chikungunya virus envelope protein inhibitor through computer-aided drug design. ACS Infect. Dis. 7 (6), 1503–1518. 10.1021/acsinfecdis.0c00915 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Brinas R. P., Hu M., Qian L., Lymar E. S., Hainfeld J. F. (2008). Gold nanoparticle size controlled by polymeric Au(I) thiolate precursor size. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 130 (3), 975–982. 10.1021/ja076333e - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Cornet S., Perier C., Kalinichev M. (2020a). Optimization of the rat digit abduction score (DAS) assay: Evaluation of botulinum neurotoxin activity in the gastrocnemius lateralis, peronei, and extensor digitorum longus. Toxicon. X 6, 100029. 10.1016/j.toxcx.2020.100029 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Cornet S., Perier C., Wagner S., Andriambeloson E., Pouzet B., Kalinichev M. (2020b). The use of the dynamic weight bearing test to assess the effects of acute, intramuscularly administered botulinum neurotoxin type A1 in rats. Toxicon. X 7, 100041. 10.1016/j.toxcx.2020.100041 - DOI - PMC - PubMed