Effects of palmitoyl-KVK-L-ascorbic acid on skin wrinkles and pigmentation.

Wrinkle formation and abnormal pigmentation are major clinical alterations associated with skin aging. As the aim of our study was to investigate the effects of palmitoyl-KVK-L-ascorbic acid on skin aging, the anti-wrinkle and depigmentation effects of palmitoyl-KVK-L-ascorbic acid were evaluated by measuring collagen expression in dermal fibroblast cells and inhibition of melanogenesis in B16F1 cells, respectively. The anti-aging effect of palmitoyl-KVK-L-ascorbic acid cream was also evaluated against a placebo cream in a clinical trial. Our results confirmed that the expression of type Ι collagen in dermal fibroblast cells treated with palmitoyl-KVK-L-ascorbic acid (0.1-4 μg/mL) increased in a dose-dependent manner. In B16F1 cells, treatment with 20 μg/mL palmitoyl-KVK-L-ascorbic acid reduced the melanin content by approximately 20% compared to alpha-melanocyte stimulating hormone treatment. In the clinical trial, application of palmitoyl-KVK-L-ascorbic acid cream led to an improvement in skin roughness and lightness in 12 and 8 weeks, respectively. Our data show that palmitoyl-KVK-L-ascorbic acid is an effective anti-aging agent that reduces wrinkles and abnormal skin pigmentation.