Argireline is the trade name for acetyl hexapeptide-8, a lab-made six-amino-acid peptide used in anti-wrinkle creams and serums. It was designed to copy part of a nerve protein (SNAP-25) and block the release of the signal that makes muscles contract, the same step Botox acts on, but far more weakly. Whether it gets through the skin to the muscles is uncertain.
Also known as: Argireline, acetyl hexapeptide-8 amide, AH-8.
There is no standard strength. A cosmetic safety panel (CIR 2025) found it safe in cosmetics at up to 0.005% and said there was not enough data to call it safe above that. The 2002 study below gave its cream as 10% of the hexapeptide, as stated in the abstract. That is a study protocol, not a recommendation.
Skin-care peptides are sold as cosmetic ingredients. FDA does not approve cosmetics before they go on the market. FDA says a product that only moisturizes so lines look less noticeable is a cosmetic, but a product intended to remove wrinkles or increase the skin's production of collagen is a drug or a medical device, even if it is sold as a cosmetic.
The first paper (Blanes-Mira 2002) found that the peptide blocked the release of nerve signals in the lab, much less strongly than botulinum toxin, and that a cream applied for 30 days reduced wrinkle depth by up to 30% in healthy women; in safety tests the peptide showed no oral toxicity and no skin irritation at high doses. In a randomized trial in 60 Chinese adults (Wang 2013), argireline or placebo was applied around the eyes twice a day for 4 weeks (3 people on argireline for each on placebo); the doctors' overall rating of wrinkle improvement was 48.9% for argireline versus 0% for placebo, and skin roughness measured on skin casts fell only with argireline.
A 2025 review (Zdrada-Nowak) says the peptide is large and water-loving, so little of it gets through the outer skin layer, and whether it reaches the nerve-muscle junction at all is still uncertain. A 2026 review of cosmetic peptides (Yi) adds that many trials are small, short, sponsored by industry, or test mixtures of several ingredients.
We could not find a published half-life or time to peak for argireline. It is applied to the skin, and the studies we found measured the skin, not levels in the blood, so we do not list one.
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