What is the Difference Between Collagen and Glutathione

The key difference between collagen and glutathione is that collagen primarily deals with the aesthetics of skin aging, whereas glutathione is an antioxidant that is helpful in fighting free radicals that can damage the cells of the body and affect many processes in the body.

Collagen and glutathione have important applications in skincare routines and products. They come in the form of supplements as well.

CONTENTS

1. Overview and Key Difference
2. What is Collagen
3. What is Glutathione
4. Collagen vs Glutathione in Tabular Form
5. Summary – Collagen vs Glutathione

What is Collagen?

Collagen is a structural protein that is found in the extracellular matrix of the connective tissues in the body. It is a main component in the connective tissue. In fact, collagen is the most abundant protein in mammals. The amount of collagen in our protein content can vary from 25-35%. Moreover, collagen contains amino acids that are linked to each other, forming a triple helix of elongated fibrils known as the collagen helix. Connective tissues with high contents of collagen include cartilage, bones, tendons, ligaments, and skin.

The degree of mineralization can determine the rigidity of collagen tissues. For example, bones are rigid, and tendons are compliant. Further, collagen can be found abundantly in corneas, blood vessels, the gut, intervertebral discs, and dentin in teeth.

There are some medical uses of collagen, which include cardiac applications, cosmetic surgery, bone grafts, tissue regeneration, reconstructive surgical uses, wound healing, etc. Furthermore, it has applications in research interests such as cell cultures.

There are some collagen-related diseases such as Osteogenesis imperfect, infantile cortical hyperostosis, Caffey’s disease, collagenopathy, Alport syndrome, etc. Therefore, it has many medical applications. Besides, it is useful in the cosmetic industry for cosmetic surgery and burns surgery. Commonly, it has a wide application in the food industry as the collagen casing in sausages.

What is Glutathione?

Glutathione is an antioxidant compound existing in plants, animals, fungi, bacteria, and some archaea. L Glutathione is the most abundant isomer of glutathione, so it is generally known as glutathione. This compound can prevent damage to important cellular components, which are caused by reactive oxygen species, including free radicals, peroxides, lipid peroxides, and some heavy metals.

When considering the chemical structure of L-glutathione, it is a tripeptide compound having a gamma peptide linkage between cysteine and the carboxyl group (in the glutamate side chain). It is freely soluble in water and insoluble in organic solvents such as methanol and diethyl ether.

There are two steps in the biosynthesis of L-glutathione. The first step includes the synthesis of gamma-glutamylcysteine from L-glutamate and cysteine. The second step includes the addition of the C-terminal of gamma-glutamylcysteine catalyzed by glutathione synthetase.

As an antioxidant, it can protect cells by neutralizing reactive species of oxygen. In addition, it can participate in thiol protection and redox regulation in cellular thiol proteins (in the presence of oxidative stress). Moreover, glutathione takes part in many metabolic reactions, including the biosynthesis of leukotrienes and prostaglandins.

What is the Difference Between Collagen and Glutathione?

Collagen and glutathione are important chemical substances in skincare routines. The key difference between collagen and glutathione is that collagen primarily deals with the aesthetics of skin aging, whereas glutathione is an antioxidant that is helpful in fighting free radicals that can damage the cells of the body and affect many processes in the body.

The below infographic presents the differences between collagen and glutathione in tabular form for side-by-side comparison.

Summary – Collagen vs Glutathione

Collagen is a structural protein found in the extracellular matrix of the connective tissues in the body. Glutathione is an antioxidant compound existing in plants, animals, fungi, bacteria, and some archaea. The key difference between collagen and glutathione is that collagen primarily deals with the aesthetics of skin aging, whereas glutathione is an antioxidant that is helpful in fighting free radicals that can damage the cells of the body and affect many processes in the body.

Reference:

1. Salomon, Sheryl Huggins, et al. “Glutathione (GSH) 101: Definition, Uses, Benefits, More.” EverydayHealth.com.

Image Courtesy:

1. “Collagen — Smart-Servier (cropped)” By Laboratoires Servier – Smart Servier website (CC BY-SA 3.0) via Commons Wikimedia
2. “Glutathione” By Jjexpat – Own work (CC BY-SA 4.0) via Commons Wikimedia