The SNARE Complex
As the understanding of the wrinkle formation process continues to advance, so does our ability to impede the process. Wrinkles and their formation due to facial expressions, repetitive motions, environmental damage, and natural aging are no longer considered uncorrectable. Wrinkles have been proven to be preventable and reversible.
Expression and repetitive motion wrinkles form because of lingering skin tension produced when excessive chemical signals stimulate facial muscles. These types of wrinkles can form each time you smile, frown, laugh, cry, or even raise an eyebrow. With age, skin starts to thin and loses its natural resiliency. As its ability to bounce back to its smooth unlined state is reduced, this results in: brow lines, forehead creases, crow’s feet, laugh lines, lip lines around the mouth, and overall aging in the appearance of the skin.
The cause of skin tension and muscle contractions that form wrinkles lies on a delicate neurotransmitter balance called the SNARE (soluble N -ethylmaleimide-sensitive fusion protein attachment protein receptor) complex. The SNARE complex involves three proteins (SNAP 25, Vamp, and Syntaxin) that combine to allow neurons to complete exocytosis. Exocytosis is the release of chemicals across the neuron’s synapse that triggers the contraction of a muscle. Preventing or interrupting this exocytosis is the key to stopping or attenuating muscle contractions and hence relaxing existing wrinkles and preventing new ones from forming. Botulinum toxin A (Botox®) targets and stops this process.
Argireline® is a peptide that has been synthesized to prevent the formation of expression muscles by attenuating muscular contraction through a different mechanism. The efficacy of Argireline® has been assessed through in vitro tests that show the mechanism of action on muscle contraction, as well as in vitro tests where the peptide has been proven to be effective in reducing wrinkle depth (also read: Argireline: Inhibits Wrinkle Formation).
Argireline® reduces the depth of expression wrinkles and is a safer alternative to Botulinum Toxin A, topically targeting the same wrinkle-formation mechanism in a very different way.
*Botox® is a registered trademark of Allergan, Inc.