Skin Ageing: Reversing Cellular Senescence with Peptides and Exosome Therapeutics

Author : Glen Alvin, Caroline Sunggip, Chin Kai Ling, Mike KS Chan

Abstract : Skin ageing is a progressive biological process associated with oxidative stress, chronic inflammation, mitochondrial dysfunction, and extracellular matrix degradation, ultimately leading to cellular senescence and impaired skin integrity. The present study investigated the anti-ageing and cytoprotective activity of peptide and exosome treatments against H₂O₂-induced senescence in adult dermal fibroblast (ADF) cells. Cellular senescence was induced using hydrogen peroxide, followed by treatment with peptides and exosomes for 48 h under optimised conditions. Antioxidant activity was evaluated using the 2, 2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) radical scavenging assay. Anti-ageing efficacy was assessed through collagenase, elastase, and hyaluronidase inhibitory assays. Intracellular reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation and mitochondrial membrane potential (ΔΨm) were analysed using 2′, 7′-dichlorodihydrofluorescein diacetate (DCFH-DA) and Rhodamine 123 fluorescent staining, respectively. Senescence-associated alterations were assessed by morphological analysis and SA-β-galactosidase (SA-β-Gal) staining, while ELISA quantified inflammatory cytokines IL-6 and IL-1β. The results demonstrated that peptide and exosome treatments significantly reduced intracellular ROS accumulation, restored mitochondrial membrane potential, enhanced antioxidant defence systems, and suppressed pro-inflammatory cytokine secretion in H₂O₂-induced senescent cells. Furthermore, both treatments exhibited substantial elastase inhibition, indicating preservation of extracellular matrix integrity. Moreover, senescence associated staining analyses further confirmed attenuation of cellular senescence following treatment. Collectively, the findings suggest that peptide- and exosome-based interventions possess potent antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, cytoprotective, and anti-ageing properties with promising applications in regenerative dermatology and anti-ageing therapeutics.

Keywords : Skin ageing, Cellular senescence, Exosomes, Peptides, Oxidative stress, Antioxidant activity, Inflammaging, Regenerative medicine.

Conference Name : International Conference on Biotechnology Advances for Biomedical Research (ICBABR-26)

Conference Place : Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Conference Date : 5th Sep 2026