Natural bioactive peptides in photoaging: Multi-target mechanisms, clinical progress, and future anti-aging...

Photoaging is a process of accelerated skin aging induced by ultraviolet radiation (UVR) and other exogenous factors, characterized by deepened wrinkles, collagen degradation, and inflammatory responses. With increasing public interest in maintaining healthy skin and delaying aging, natural proteins and their bioactive peptides have emerged as promising candidates in anti-photoaging research due to their potent antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and extracellular matrix (ECM) metabolism-regulating activities. Therefore, this review focuses on natural anti-photoaging peptides (APPs) and summarizes the latest research advances in their application in skin photoaging, covering their sources, preparation methods, clinical studies, and anti-photoaging mechanisms. It places particular emphasis on the roles of different types of bioactive peptides in skin protection, functional regulation, and aging intervention, while also conducting an in-depth discussion on the current challenges faced in their practical applications and their prospects. The results showed that APPs can significantly alleviate skin damage caused by ultraviolet radiation through multi-target mechanisms of action, and some peptides have completed clinical validation. In the future, APPs are expected to demonstrate broad application potential in dietary nutritional interventions and anti-aging strategies.