• UV radiation (UVR) accelerates skin aging by triggering both intrinsic and extrinsic changes. • Collagen peptides show promise in combating UVR-induced photoaging due to their moisture retention, antioxidant properties, and tyrosinase inhibitory activity. • Animal-derived collagen peptides are gaining research attention for their potential in anti-aging skincare applications. • This review highlights molecular mechanisms and safety concerns related to collagen supplementation for UVR-exposed, aging skin. Ultraviolet radiation (UVR) could significantly accelerate skin aging, a complex and inevitable biological process involving intrinsic and extrinsic mechanisms with the characteristics of dehydration, reduction in collagen synthesis, decrease in vascularity and elasticity, thinning of epidermal and dermal layers, greying and loss of hair, changes in cellular metabolism, increased susceptibility to cancer, as well as appearance of brown pots and wrinkle on skin surface. Collagen peptides have great potentials in amelioration of UVR-induced photoaging through excellent moisture retention activity, hygroscopicity, tyrosinase inhibitory activity, and antioxidant activity. Research on anti-aging applications of collagen purified from animal by-products is increasingly prevalent nowadays. In this review, collagen peptides possessing anti-aging potentials towards skin exposed to UVR-induced oxidative stress have been discussed with special emphasis on molecular mechanisms. Moreover, issues and safety of collagen supplementation on aging skin were also discussed, aiming to provide important theoretical basis of collagen protein in alleviating skin aging induced by UVR.
Jun et al. (2026) studied this question.