In Vivo Skin Hydrating Efficacy of Fish Collagen from Greenland Halibut as a High-Value Active Ingredient for Cosmetic Applications

Abstract

The industrial processing of fish for food purposes also generates a considerable number of by-products such as viscera, bones, scales, and skin. From a value-added perspective, fish by-products can act also as raw materials, especially because of their collagen content (particularly in fish skin). Interestingly, the potential of marine collagen for cosmetic applications is enormous and, remarkably, the extraction of this protein from fish skins has been established for different species. Using this approach, we investigated the integration of marine collagen (COLRp_I) extracted from the skin of the Greenland halibut as an active ingredient in a cosmetic hydrogel formulation. In this study, extracts of marine collagen at concentrations up to 10 mg/mL showed a non-cytotoxic effect when cultured with fibroblast cells for 3 days. In addition, marine collagen extract, when incorporated into a cosmetic hydrogel formulation, met criterion A of ISO 11930:2019 regarding the efficacy of the preservative system (challenge test). In addition, the cosmetic formulations based on marine collagen at dosages of 0.1, 0.25 and 0.5% were tested in a clinical study on the skin of the forearms of 23 healthy volunteers, showing a sightly hydration effect, suggesting its potential for beauty applications. Moreover, this work illustrates that the circular economy concept applied to the fish processing industry can represent important benefits, at innovation, environmental and economic levels.

Marine Gelatin-Methacryloyl-Based Hydrogels as Cell Templates for Cartilage Tissue Engineering

“…Compared with type A and type B commercial gelatins, the results showed that gelatin extracted from Greenland halibut skin has an identical profile to commercial type B gelatin ( Figure 3 , green line) [ 46 ]. In the present study, the CD spectrum of gelatin exhibits a marked decrease in the negative intensity around 200 nm, which is characteristic of proteins with a random coil [ 47 , 48 , 49 ]. In addition, the slight CD-peak around 220 nm appears in the negative part of the graph, which could indicate the development of chain reversals in the peptide chains after the destruction of the triple helical structure [ 23 , 50 ].…”

Application of Collagen-Based Hydrogel in Skin Wound Healing

“…Currently, the research of collagen extracted from marine organisms for tissue engineering biomaterials mainly focuses on marine fish, jellyfish, sponges, etc. These aquatic organisms’ skin, muscles, and cartilage tissue are rich in collagen [ 20 , 21 ]. Collagen of marine origin is not only similar to traditional terrestrial mammalian collagen in terms of amino acid composition and biocompatibility, but also has greater advantages than mammalian collagen in terms of vast sources, easy extraction, absence of pathogenic microbial contamination, and stable chemical and physical properties—especially in the fish processing industry and fishing activities [ 22 ].…”

Assessment of collagen content in fish skin – development of a flow analysis method for hydroxyproline determination

“…1,2 Despite being extracted from natural sources, this polymer has other advantageous properties, such as its low toxicity, weak antigenicity, high nutritional value, and exibility, as well as its biodegradability and biocompatibility. 3,4 Its extraction from mammalian sources, i.e., bovines, is decreasing due to health and environmental problems, 5 and, therefore, sh has become a good alternative collagen source. In fact, the decrease in collagen extraction in land animals can be explained by the possible human infections resulting from the outbreak of diseases in stock animals.…”

“…1,2 Despite being extracted from natural sources, this polymer has other advantageous properties, such as its low toxicity, weak antigenicity, high nutritional value, and flexibility, as well as its biodegradability and biocompatibility. 3,4…”