Telomeres, key vs wrinkles

Behind the production of such a familiar and everyday product, such as an anti-wrinkle cream, you will find the most advanced knowledge about cellular metabolism.

In 2009, the Nobel Prize for Medicine was awarded jointly to Elizabeth Blackburn, Carol Greider and Jack Szostak for explaining how chromosomes are protected by telomeres and the discovery of the telomerase enzyme.

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The telomeres they are regions of the DNA that are in the ends of the chromosomes and the telomerase is an enzyme that forms part of the cellular machinery and that allows to synthesize them.

 

Telomeres, key vs wrinkles

In laboratory experiments, scientists discovered that the telomeres of a species, a single-celled organism that lives in ponds called tetrahymena, they could protect DNA molecules or mini chromosomes from a very different organism, a yeast. That showed them that they were witnessing a fundamental biological mechanism.

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In the 70s, the Russian scientist Alexei Olovnikov , observed that the skin cells of the newborn reproduced in culture up to 80 or 90 times, while the cells of a 70-year-old adult could only do it between 20 and 30 times.

Some scientists have argued that telomeres they are like clocks within the cell that mark the number of cell divisions that are possible until the cell dies. Thus, the Nobel prize-winning discovery sheds light on how our cells and bodies age and it is precisely here where anti-wrinkle creams come into play.

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During your participation in the symposium Technology of Products for Personal Care l, organized by the Faculty of Chemistry of the UNAM, the teacher Luz Antonia Borja Calderón , graduated from this faculty and member of the company Ashland, commented that the newest strategies of anti-aging products are based on knowledge about telomeres .

 

What's behind anti-wrinkle creams?

One of the active ingredients developed by the company Ashland, has the name of Telosense . This is produced from hydrolyzed yeast and soy protein. What it does is protect the chromosome of the cell, favoring the permanence of the telomeres , which tend to be lost with age, and thus achieving a decrease in wrinkles of the skin.

Both in Mexico and the United States, cosmetics are considered products that simply help change the appearance, in this case, of the skin, however, in addition to the latest generation wrinkle creams there are many cosmetic products that have an activity in the inside the cell. The chemical engineer said that it would be desirable for legislation to adapt to new scientific advances.