Comprehensive functional evaluation of a novel collagen for the skin protection in human fibroblasts and keratinocytes.

The collagen had been widely used as a promising source of functional food supplements for skin care. Here we developed a novel animal-derived collagen which displayed multiple functions for protecting the human skin cells under UV irradiation. Different evaluations were performed to explore the protective effects of this collagen on human skin fibroblasts and keratinocytes. Specifically, we found that our collagen could induce the production of collagen I, elastin and hyaluronic acid in fibroblasts and could also enhance the skin wound healing ability. Besides, it could elevate the expression of AQP3 and CD44 in keratinocytes. Moreover, this collagen had been demonstrated to alleviate the generation of ROS and the MDA content in UVA-treated fibroblasts, as well as the secretion of inflammation factors in keratinocytes. These data indicated that the novel animal-derived collagen was a hopeful material for the comprehensive protection of the skin cells and the prevention of skin aging.