A Sederma blend of two fatty-acid-linked peptides, Pal-GHK and Pal-GQPR, sold in creams to signal skin to repair collagen and smooth wrinkles.
Also called Palmitoyl tripeptide-1 and palmitoyl tetrapeptide-7, Palmitoyl tripeptide-1, Palmitoyl tetrapeptide-7, Palmitoyl oligopeptide, Palmitoyl tetrapeptide-3, Pal-GHK, Pal-GQPR, Palmitoyl rigin, Matrixyl 3000 peptide
When Matrixyl 3000's status or evidence changes, it's in the next morning's email.
Matrixyl 3000 is not one peptide but two, sold together by the French ingredient company Sederma, part of the Croda group. Palmitoyl tripeptide-1 is GHK, the same three amino acids as the copper peptide GHK-Cu but without copper, with palmitic acid attached. Palmitoyl tetrapeptide-7 is the four amino acids GQPR with palmitic acid attached. Sederma calls both matrikines, messenger peptides meant to tell skin cells to rebuild the support layer under the surface. It is a different product from the original Matrixyl, which is a single peptide, Pal-KTTKS.
Almost all the efficacy numbers come from Sederma. Its datasheet reports that 23 women aged 42 to 67 used a cream with 3% Matrixyl 3000 on half the face and a placebo cream on the other half for 2 months, and the area covered by deep wrinkles shrank 39.4% from the start on the Matrixyl side versus no significant change on the placebo side. Those results are compared to each person's starting point and were never published as a peer-reviewed paper.
Independent human data are thin. A 2024 Chinese eye-cream study and a 2009 US lip study used the peptides mixed with several other actives and had no placebo group. A 2026 University of Nottingham study in 3 women found both peptides spread through the outer dead skin layer but stayed between the cells, not inside them. Matrixyl 3000 is a cosmetic ingredient, not a drug.
What it binds to, and what happens inside the body after that, step by step.
Sederma describes both peptides as matrikines: messenger peptides that bind receptors on skin cells and switch on genes for rebuilding the support matrix. The palmitic acid tail is meant to help them get into skin. In Sederma's lab test on aging fibroblasts, the blend cut an aging marker called progerin by 27% and a senescence stain by 56%. None of this has been measured in living human dermis by independent researchers.
Human results and animal results are kept apart below. A result in rats tells you a mechanism is plausible. It does not tell you what happens in a person.
The only placebo-compared human tests of the blend itself are Sederma's own half-face studies in 23 and 28 women, which are not peer-reviewed and report changes against each person's starting point. Independent human studies used the peptides inside multi-ingredient products without a placebo arm, so the blend's own effect has not been shown by anyone but the supplier.
23 women aged 42 to 67, 3% cream on half the face versus placebo on the other half, 2 months
Deep-wrinkle area fell 39.4% from baseline on the Matrixyl side (placebo side no significant change), and main wrinkle depth fell 19.9%; supplier data, not peer-reviewed.
Read the study28 women aged 51 to 72, 3% cream versus placebo on half the face and forearms, 2 months
Sederma reports the low-density band under the epidermis on the inner forearm was 5.5% thinner and 7.8% denser than placebo after 1 month; supplier data, not peer-reviewed.
Read the studySkin samples and volunteers; Sederma-authored methods study, sample size not given in abstract
A blend of palmitoyl oligopeptide and palmitoyl tetrapeptide-7 reduced the low-density band under the epidermis on ultrasound and improved matrix structure on confocal imaging versus placebo.
Read the studyAdults using an eye cream with yeast/rice ferment, N-acetylneuraminic acid, palmitoyl tripeptide-1 and palmitoyl tetrapeptide-7 for 12 weeks; Chinese hospital and company study
Skin hydration rose 28.1% and elasticity 18.8% from baseline, with no placebo group, so the peptides' share of the effect is unknown.
Read the study32 women aged 22 to 40 with dry lips, 4 weeks, open-label
A two-step lip product containing a Pal-GHK complex, growth factors, hyaluronic acid and niacin improved lip dryness and fullness from baseline; the peptide's own effect cannot be separated out.
Read the study3 healthy women, serum with Matrixyl 3000 for 0.5 to 5 hours, then tape stripping; University of Nottingham with Boots co-authors
Pal-GHK and Pal-GQPR were found throughout the outer dead skin layer, decreasing with depth, and stayed between cells rather than inside them.
Read the studyNo preclinical studies are listed as key studies here. The human data above carries the evidence.
When a new Matrixyl 3000 study in people is published, the daily email covers it.
These are questions the published research has not answered.
No product containing Matrixyl 3000 is approved as a medicine by the FDA.
Sold in topical cosmetics, which FDA does not review for efficacy before sale. It is not an approved drug anywhere. Matrixyl 3000 is a Sederma (Croda group) trademark; its datasheet lists the INCI names palmitoyl tripeptide-1 and palmitoyl tetrapeptide-7 in a glycerin, water, butylene glycol, carbomer and polysorbate 20 base. No Cosmetic Ingredient Review safety assessment specific to these two peptides was found. Not named on the WADA list.
When the FDA or WADA changes Matrixyl 3000's status, it's in the next morning's email.
No human half-life has been published for Matrixyl 3000, so we do not draw a clearance curve. Half-lives quoted online for it are usually estimates from animal data.
This table records the doses that trials and approved labels used, with the source for each row. It is a record of research, not a recommendation, and it is open to free members.
Which symptoms are expected and which mean stop and get help: side effects and red flags.
Tap a claim to see what the studies found.
The two are different peptides, and no published head-to-head human trial exists.
Sederma's datasheet reports a 39.4% drop in deep-wrinkle area from baseline in 23 women; these are supplier numbers, not peer-reviewed, and the commonly quoted 45% figure was not found in the supplier document reviewed here.
Pal-GHK uses the same three amino acids as GHK-Cu but carries a fatty acid instead of copper.
No published trial compares the blend with tretinoin or any retinoid.
These pairings come up often. Almost none have been tested together in a trial, and the evidence note on each says so plainly.
Formulators pair a collagen-signal blend with a nerve-signal peptide to target static and expression lines at once.
EvidenceNo published human trial has tested this pair.
Common in serums; the Nottingham permeation study tested Matrixyl 3000 and a vitamin C derivative in separate serums.
EvidenceNo published efficacy trial has tested the combination.
Sold as a pre-dissolved cosmetic ingredient in a glycerin and water base; no drug-grade storage guidance exists.
Follow the cosmetic product's packaging and expiry date; no independent stability data are published.
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