2014 Volume 2 Issue 1 Pages 63-71
Placenta, which can be obtained from animals without slaughtering them, is an attractive biological resource for proteoglycans (PGs). In order to seek the way for efficient use of placenta, we investigated the effects of hydrolysates derived from placental PGs on rat dermal fibroblasts in vitro. We extracted PGs from bovine placenta and hydrolyzed them into glycosaminoglycan (GAG) fragments and core protein peptides (CPPs). Both GAG fragments and CPPs promoted proliferation of fibroblasts. Biochemical and immunological analyses showed that the collagen and PGs synthesized by fibroblasts increased in the conditioned media and the cell layers of PG hydrolysates-treated fibroblasts. GAG fragments, but not CPPs, promoted the mRNA expression of a collagen-degrading enzyme, matrix metalloproteinase-13, suggesting that GAG fragments also stimulate reactions involved in ECM remodeling. These results suggest that the PG hydrolysates have an anabolic effect on dermal fibroblasts. Therefore, placenta could be efficiently used by employing it to skin care products as PG hydrolysates.
