What Collagen Is
Collagen is the most prevalent structural protein in mammalian skin and tissue. The prevalence of collagen in the human body is such that 33 percent of a body's protein is collagen protein, and 75 percent of skin is composed of collagen. Because collagen acts as a vital connective component, the breakdown of collagen fibers that comes with age and exposure-related skin damage is what leads to wrinkles and sagging skin.
How Collagen is Created
Fibroblasts are the agents responsible for the production of collagen. This is the connective tissue cell that creates and emits collagen fibers, elastin proteins (which give skin its snap-back resilience) and mucopolysaccharides (which keep skin looking hydrated) into the tissues. Fibroblasts, naturally, are also the catalysts for the healing of flesh wounds. Some fibroblasts are star-shaped; others are spindle-shaped.
Fibroblasts Produce Collagen
The outer layers of fibroblast cells are designed to receive and connect to specific catalyst molecules, whose role is to cue the production of collagen when the appropriate arrangement of catalyst molecules is complete. These arrangements of catalyst molecules are known as fibroblast growth factors. Initially producing a less-complex substance, known as procollagen, fibroblasts send the procollagen out, where it combines to form a more complex and total collagen unit composed of molecules of tropocollagen. As a person ages, this production process of collagen declines and the deterioration of existing collagen begins.
Skin Care Science notes that Vitamin C is vital during this process as a co-factor (inadequate Vitamin C leads to inadequate or outright failed collagen formation, one of the defining factors of the disease, known as scurvy).
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