A Sederma three-amino-acid peptide with a fatty acid attached, sold to fill forehead lines and crow's feet by signaling skin to rebuild its matrix.
Also called Palmitoyl tripeptide-38, Matrixyl synthe 6, Matrixyl synthe-6, Matrixyl syn 6, Pal-Lys-Met(O2)-Lys, Palmitoyl lysyl dioxymethionyl lysine
When Matrixyl synthe'6's status or evidence changes, it's in the next morning's email.
Matrixyl synthe'6 is the trade name for palmitoyl tripeptide-38: three amino acids, lysine, an oxidized methionine and lysine, with palmitic acid attached. Sederma launched it in January 2011 as part of its Matrixyl range and says it stimulates six major building blocks of the skin matrix. A 2020 paper lists those six as collagen I, III and IV, hyaluronic acid, fibronectin and laminin, based on a Sederma patent.
There is no independent placebo-controlled trial. Every published human study used it inside a multi-ingredient serum or moisturizer and compared people with their own starting point: 35 women in a vitamin C serum for 56 days, 32 women in an apple stem cell serum for 28 days, and 37 women in a moisturizer for 12 weeks. All three reported improvements. At least two were run or paid for by the companies selling those products.
The supplier's own numbers, such as wrinkle area cut by up to 28.5% after 2 months, appear on distributor pages without the study size, design or concentration. Matrixyl synthe'6 is a cosmetic ingredient, not a drug.
What it binds to, and what happens inside the body after that, step by step.
Matrixyl synthe'6 is sold as a matrikine-like signal that tells fibroblasts and skin cells to make more matrix and junction proteins. According to a patent cited in a 2020 paper, it raised six molecules in lab tests: collagen I, III and IV, hyaluronic acid, fibronectin and laminin. Sederma says the result fills wrinkles from the inside. None of these lab effects has been measured in living human skin by an independent group.
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.
Three small open-label studies, at least two run or funded by the maker of the product tested, used palmitoyl tripeptide-38 inside a serum or moisturizer with other actives and found improvement from baseline. No independent placebo-controlled trial of the peptide alone has been published, and the supplier's own trial data were not available in a primary source.
35 white women aged 40 and over with photoaging, 56 days, no control group; authors consult for the serum's maker
A serum with 15% vitamin C, vitamin E and 5 ppm palmitoyl tripeptide-38 cut skin roughness 8% to 9% and redness 9% from baseline.
Read the study32 women with sensitive skin and crow's feet, 28 days; study by the product maker
71% of women had a visible anti-wrinkle effect and dermal density and elasticity rose, with no control group to isolate the peptide.
Read the study37 women aged 35 to 60, 12 weeks
A moisturizer with palmitoyl tripeptide-38, astragalus, rosemary extract, a vitamin C ester and coenzyme Q10 improved every graded aging sign from baseline and was well tolerated.
Read the studyNo preclinical studies are listed as key studies here. The human data above carries the evidence.
When a new Matrixyl synthe'6 study in people is published, the daily email covers it.
These are questions the published research has not answered.
No product containing Matrixyl synthe'6 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. A distributor lists the commercial ingredient as glycerin, water, hydroxypropyl cyclodextrin and palmitoyl tripeptide-38. No Cosmetic Ingredient Review safety assessment specific to palmitoyl tripeptide-38 was found. Not named on the WADA list.
When the FDA or WADA changes Matrixyl synthe'6's status, it's in the next morning's email.
No human half-life has been published for Matrixyl synthe'6, 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 'fills from the inside' claim is Sederma marketing. No published study has measured volume change from the peptide alone, and its effect is not comparable to an injected filler.
No published trial compares it with Matrixyl or Matrixyl 3000.
Six matrix molecules rose in supplier lab cell tests; this has not been measured in human skin.
These pairings come up often. Almost none have been tested together in a trial, and the evidence note on each says so plainly.
Pairs an antioxidant serum base with a matrix-signal peptide.
EvidenceA 35-woman open-label study found less roughness and redness after 56 days, with no control arm to isolate either part.
Some serums layer several Matrixyl peptides on the idea that different signals add up.
EvidenceNo published study has tested this combination.
Sold as a pre-dissolved cosmetic ingredient; no drug-grade storage guidance exists.
Follow the cosmetic product's packaging and expiry date; no independent stability data are published.
One email when a trial reads out, a label changes or the FDA acts on a peptide. Free, every source linked, unsubscribe any time.