Hydrolyzed Marine Collagen: Emerging Evidence of Benefits via the Oral Route – Review and Insights for Medical Aesthetics Practitioners

Introduction and Purpose: Marine collagens are environmentally friendly and biologically compatible collagens derived from aquatic organisms, including invertebrates like sponges and jellyfish. Starting from marine collagens as raw materials, sophisticated purification procedures lead to low-molecular-weight, bioactive fragments that are valuable functional ingredients for nutritional supplements, cosmeceuticals, and medical devices in regenerative medicine. From the mid-2010s to the late 2010s, several high-quality studies highlighted the skin bioregenerative properties of marine collagen-derived oligopeptides. The purpose of this review is to discuss these properties and their rationale. Methods: This review only analyzes studies focused on skin regeneration published in indexed journals with significant impact factors (the rule was rigid for human studies), supplemented by a few contributions from Google Scholar for methodologically sound in vitro and animal studies. Results: Activation of skin fibroblasts with high systemic bioavailability after oral intake supports the bioregenerative properties of hydrolyzed marine collagen. Marine collagen hydrolysates do not cause irritation or inflammation and have a negligible impact on pro-inflammatory mediators in animal studies. Preclinical research indicates that 50 µg/mL of hydrolyzed marine collagen peptides accelerates cell migration almost as effectively as 10 µg/mL of recombinant human epidermal growth factor, although the predictive value of in vitro studies for humans remains uncertain. Accelerated wound healing with collagen neosynthesis is associated with increased expression in immunohistochemistry of platelet-endothelial cell adhesion molecule-1, basic fibroblast growth factor, and transforming growth factor ß-1. Furthermore, enzyme-treated hydrolysates produced under acidic conditions exhibit antioxidant effects without affecting pro-inflammatory cytokines, while enzyme-treated hydrolysates under alkaline conditions have the opposite effect. Conclusion: An increasing number of preclinical and human studies highlight the skin and overall bioregenerative properties of hydrolyzed marine collagens. Their high systemic intestinal absorption after oral intake distinguishes them from hydrolysates from other sources. Long-term safety should be a primary concern of future research.