A collagen-fragment peptide with a fatty acid attached, sold by Sederma in anti-wrinkle creams to signal skin cells to make more collagen.
Also called Palmitoyl pentapeptide-4, Palmitoyl pentapeptide-3, Pal-KTTKS, Palmitoyl-KTTKS, C16-KTTKS, Palmitoyl-Lys-Thr-Thr-Lys-Ser, Matrixyl peptide
When Matrixyl's status or evidence changes, it's in the next morning's email.
Matrixyl is five amino acids, Lys-Thr-Thr-Lys-Ser (KTTKS), with palmitic acid, a fatty acid, bolted on to help it get into skin. KTTKS is a piece of the type I collagen precursor. In 1993 US researchers found that this fragment made fibroblasts, the cells that build skin's support layer, produce more collagen and fibronectin in a dish. The French ingredient company Sederma added the fatty acid and sells the result as Matrixyl.
The best human trial was run by Procter and Gamble, which uses the peptide in its own creams. 93 white women aged 35 to 55 used a moisturizer with 3 parts per million of the peptide on one side of the face and the same moisturizer without it on the other side for 12 weeks; the peptide side had fewer fine lines and wrinkles by machine image analysis and expert grading. A 21-woman trial in Indonesia in 2023, run by a university and funded by an Indonesian cosmetics company, saw the Matrixyl group improve, but the placebo group improved as much and no skin measurement differed significantly.
Lab work shows the fatty acid helps: in mouse skin the plain peptide never got in, while the palmitoyl version reached all skin layers, though only a small amount reached the dermis. Skin enzymes also break it down quickly. Matrixyl is a cosmetic ingredient, not a drug.
What it binds to, and what happens inside the body after that, step by step.
When the body builds collagen, it cuts off end pieces of the precursor molecule, and those fragments may tell fibroblasts to make more matrix. KTTKS is the shortest piece of that fragment that still raised collagen and fibronectin output in lab fibroblasts. Matrixyl is meant to send the same signal from the skin surface. The receptor it acts on has not been identified, and the effect in living human skin is measured as wrinkle change, not collagen output.
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.
One large split-face randomized trial, run by Procter and Gamble, found fewer fine lines after 12 weeks with 3 ppm of the peptide. A 21-woman randomized trial with no peptide-maker involvement found no significant difference from placebo, and other human data come from multi-ingredient products. Lab work on collagen production and skin penetration supports the idea but does not show how much reaches living human dermis.
93 white women aged 35 to 55, double-blind split-face, run by Procter and Gamble
Over 12 weeks, the side treated with moisturizer plus 3 ppm Pal-KTTKS had significantly fewer wrinkles and fine lines than the moisturizer-only side, and the peptide was well tolerated.
Read the study21 Indonesian women, 7 per group: Matrixyl cream, Argireline cream or placebo, 8 weeks, university study funded by Indonesian cosmetics company Paragon Technology and Innovation
Static crow's feet scores fell 0.86 points with Matrixyl and 1.00 point with placebo, and no skin measurement differed significantly; the Matrixyl group reported no complaints.
Read the studyTwo split-face trials, 42 and 35 women aged 30 to 70, run by Procter and Gamble
Creams containing niacinamide, Pal-KT, Pal-KTTKS and carnosine improved crow's feet smoothness over 4 weeks versus no treatment; the peptide's own effect cannot be separated out.
Read the studyCultured fibroblasts and other connective tissue cells
Lys-Thr-Thr-Lys-Ser was the shortest piece of the collagen precursor fragment that still strongly raised collagen and fibronectin production.
Read the studyHairless mouse skin and skin extracts
Plain KTTKS did not enter the skin, while Pal-KTTKS reached the dermis at 0.3 micrograms per square cm; both were rapidly broken down by skin enzymes.
Read the studyHuman dermal and corneal fibroblasts
Pal-KTTKS raised collagen production in a concentration-dependent way, close to the concentration where it self-assembles into tiny tapes.
Read the studyWhen a new Matrixyl study in people is published, the daily email covers it.
These are questions the published research has not answered.
No product containing Matrixyl 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 and has no drug development program. Matrixyl is a Sederma trademark; Sederma is part of the Croda group. No Cosmetic Ingredient Review safety assessment specific to palmitoyl pentapeptide-4 was found. Not named on the WADA list.
When the FDA or WADA changes Matrixyl's status, it's in the next morning's email.
No human half-life has been published for Matrixyl, 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.
No published trial compares Matrixyl head to head with a retinoid.
It raises collagen output in lab fibroblasts, and one 12-week trial found fewer fine lines, but collagen in living human skin has not been measured in a Matrixyl-only study.
A 93-woman trial by Procter and Gamble found a benefit; a 21-woman university trial in Indonesia found no significant difference from placebo.
Matrixyl is designed as a collagen signal, not a nerve blocker. It does not act on the muscle signal.
These pairings come up often. Almost none have been tested together in a trial, and the evidence note on each says so plainly.
Procter and Gamble combined Pal-KTTKS with niacinamide, a second peptide and carnosine in an eye and face regimen.
EvidenceTwo 4-week split-face trials with 42 and 35 women improved crow's feet smoothness versus no treatment, but the peptide's share of the effect is unknown.
Formulators pair a collagen-signal peptide with a nerve-signal peptide to target static and expression lines at once.
EvidenceNo published trial has tested the pair together; the one trial with both used them in separate groups.
Sold mainly 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.
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