Abstract

Asterias pectinifera, a starfish that has been known to ruin the aquaculture industry owing to its voracious appetite, has recently been identified as an eco-friendly source of non-toxic and highly water-soluble low-molecular weight collagen peptides, which promotes wound healing, bone regeneration, and skin protection. Although they have potential applications in biomedical applications, including pharmaceuticals and cosmetic products, it remains unclear how to improve the in vivo absorption of collagen peptides. Here, we present a novel method to enhance the absorption rate of collagen peptides using a lipid-based nanocarrier. We prepared an elastic nanoliposome by controlling the composition ratio of phospholipids and low-molecular weight collagen peptides. Our results indicate that low-molecular weight collagen peptides extracted from Asterias pectinifera have higher encapsulation efficiency than the collagen peptides extracted from pork and fish, which have traditionally been considered as a conventional source of collagen. Moreover, we demonstrate that the elastic nanoliposome containing the collagen peptide of Asterias pectinifera can reduce MMP-1 expression caused by ultraviolet radiation-induced photoaging. Therefore, the combination of Asterias pectinifera-derived low-molecular-weight collagen peptides and elastic nanoliposomes may be a promising formulation as an eco-friendly source of materials for anti-aging cosmetics.