GROWTH FACTORS

These chemical messengers are secreted by our cells and can communicate with other cells by attaching to their surface receptors. This is what allows growth factors to influence signaling pathways and regulate important cell processes relating to growth like cell proliferation and differentiation (1).

These same pathways are involved in skin aging. And for both delayed wound healing and photoaging, repair mechanisms are often overwhelmed and production of growth factors slows down. Utilizing growth factors allows us to help the skin repair itself and aid in skin rejuvenation both alone and paired with aesthetic treatments (2).

Want the simple version? Think of growth factors as tiny messengers that go around and tell your skin cells what to do. You can apply stem cells, hyaluronic acid, or collagen to your face but that doesn’t mean they’ll become part of your skin – while applying growth factors can tell your skin to produce more of these things.

STEM CELL CONDITIONED MEDIA

Like we covered above, the cells in our body can secrete growth factors and we culture stem cells for that reason.

When stem cells are cultured in a growth medium, they secrete factors referred to as “secretome.” This includes all the substances the stem cells secrete, including growth factors as well as exosomes and microvesicles. The end result is the stem cell conditioned media (SC-CM).

Because SC-CM is free of cells, it’s safe and you don’t have to be a match to the stem cell donor. And unlike the synthetic EGF you see in cosmetics, SC-CM features a wide array of growth factors – just like in our skin.

Growth factors are team players. They each work locally and have a specific task they perform. This means that you really want all the players on your team and Bradcueticals delivers that.

MATRIKINES

Matrikines are peptide fragments that, like grower factors, have the ability to regulate cell activity. They appear to use the same cell receptors as growth factors do to communicate yet their smaller size may help with penetration.

Many brands are including them since they’re more affordable than a quality stem cell conditioned media and easier to formulate with – though less researched. Examples include carrier peptides like Copper Tripeptide-1 and Matrixyl 3000 (4).

Here at Bradceuticals, we are about making effective formulation accessible. So we’ve added matrikines like Matrixyl 300 as well as DMAE, a precursor for acetylcholine which may have growth factor-like effects in the skin, to our stem cell conditioned media.

SKIN AND HAIR

Topical stem cell conditioned media has been shown to aid in wound healing, repar, and rejuvenation in the skin. You can accelerate results by pairing with aesthetic treatments like microneedling.

Meanwhile, depending on the type of hair loss, SC-CM can also help promote hair growth. You can apply to the scalp by itself or enhance results by pairing it with proven interventions such as red light therapy, Minoxidil, and microneedling.

RESEARCH

Barrientos, Stephan et al. “Growth factors and cytokines in wound healing.” Wound repair and regeneration : official publication of the Wound Healing Society [and] the European Tissue Repair Society vol. 16,5 (2008): 585-601. doi:10.1111/j.1524-475X.2008.00410.x
Miller-Kobisher, Blanca et al. “Epidermal Growth Factor in Aesthetics and Regenerative Medicine: Systematic Review.” Journal of cutaneous and aesthetic surgery vol. 14,2 (2021): 137-146. doi:10.4103/JCAS.JCAS_25_20
Pawitan, Jeanne Adiwinata. “Prospect of stem cell conditioned medium in regenerative medicine.” BioMed research international vol. 2014 (2014): 965849. doi:10.1155/2014/965849
Aldag, Caroline, et al. “Skin Rejuvenation Using Cosmetic Products Containing Growth Factors, Cytokines, and Matrikines: A Review of the Literature.” Clinical, Cosmetic and Investigational Dermatology, Volume 9, 2016, pp. 411–419. https://doi.org/10.2147/CCID.S116158
Merati, Miesha et al. “An Assessment of Microneedling with Topical Growth Factors for Facial Skin Rejuvenation: A Randomized Controlled Trial.” The Journal of clinical and aesthetic dermatology vol. 13,11 (2020): 22-27.
Damayanti, Restu Harisma et al. “Mesenchymal Stem Cell Secretome for Dermatology Application: A Review.” Clinical, cosmetic and investigational dermatology vol. 14 1401-1412. 5 Oct. 2021, doi:10.2147/CCID.S331044