Already, hyaluronan is used to protect the eye during surgery, reduce inflammation in arthritic knees and prevent postsurgery scar tissue. It's recently become known, however, as the latest treatment for plumping up facial wrinkles, the New York Times (NYSE:NYT) reported.

Hyaluronan, discovered in 1934 by Karl Meyer in an ophthalmology lab at Columbia University in New York, was found in cows' eyes, but harvesting bovine eyes was not commercially feasible. But another Columbia scientist, Dr. Endre Balazs, found the same molecule in the red combs of roosters.

The combs are plentiful because they are removed at slaughter and currently thrown away.

Recently, researchers have also found the molecule influences the way that cells act, and it has the potential to heal wounds, prevent scarring and deliver slowly released drugs to precise areas, according to Balazs.