Antimicrobial Peptides And Skin Health
For thousands of years, patients from all over the world have been applying herb extracts, toad skin, snail skin and mucus to promote the healing of epidermal wounds, burns and infectious diseases and to remove acne scars. Recent Western medical research has started to unlock the magic of these natural alternatives of healing. The Discovery of naturally active peptides and glycoproteins in snail body and secretions (Kubota Y et al., 1985) in frog skin (Zasloff, 1987) and in herbs (Broekaert et al., 1995) explains the beneficial effects of these treatments. Those bioactive peptides are highly efficient against a range of microorganisms and are thus called antimicrobial peptides.
Such magic of Nature is also part of our inner skin defense mechanism. Mammals are born with antimicrobial peptides deployed as a crucial defense against microbial invasion (Gallo and Nizet, 2003). The skin is a defensive interface between internal structures and the outside environment. It is exposed everyday to thousands of hypothetical aggressors, a host of toxins and physical stress. In order to bear these challenges, skin functions as a physical barrier and has an active immunological role in the recognition of microbes as well as in the synthesis of cytokines and defensive molecules such as antimicrobial peptides.
The number of reports demonstrating the presence and up regulation of antimicrobial peptides in human tissues is increasing and shows the significance of these peptides in skin defense and treatment. Researchers have focused on replicating its bioactive elements (by biosynthesis) in the laboratory.
That is a promising new field for investigation and creating effective drugs, but bringing a drug to clinical trial is time consuming and costly. Every thing from finding, identification, synthesis and clinical trials, must be calculated as expenses that will bring a drug to market. Additionally, this process can also take ten or many more years to accomplish.
Fortunately coincidence and keen observation of the action of the snail serum on the small skin lesions of people who handled snails, has allowed to persevere in making the secretion available naturally in the form of a topical product for skin problems and to remove acne scars. Producers noticed that the workers they took care of the snails (in Chile) would have smoother skin. Those suffering from acne, acne scars and rosacea would also show signs of improvement in their skin condition. The fact that the snail extract has glycoproteins and peptides that kill bacteria and organically induce the expression of endogenous antimicrobial peptides has been recognized since 1985. Due to a renewed interest in natural products for skin care, creams containing snail serum have become more available. This very ingredient holds the key in ridding yourself of stubborn acne scars in a healthy and timely manner.
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