Greener route to acne-care ingredients shows why more antioxidants do not always make a better product
KeAi Communications Co., Ltd.
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view moreCredit: Minh Hien Nguyen, Minh-Tri Le, Khac-Minh Thai, Soo-Yeon Lee, Jin-Han Park
A greener extraction method can concentrate antioxidant compounds from medicinal plants, but the more highly enriched fraction may not necessarily be the safest or most practical ingredient for skincare products, according to a study published in the Journal of Dermatologic Science and Cosmetic Technology.
The researchers investigated a blend of four plants used in East Asian medicine and cosmetics: Houttuynia cordata, Scutellaria baicalensis, Chamaecyparis obtusa and Artemisia capillaris. They compared the crude herbal extract with fractions produced using an ethanol–ammonium sulphate aqueous two-phase system (ATPS), a liquid-separation method designed to reduce reliance on conventional organic solvents.
ATPS selectively concentrated phenolic and flavonoid compounds while reducing triterpenes. The best-performing fraction contained 690.8 milligrams of gallic acid equivalents and 42.6 milligrams of quercetin equivalents per gram. It also recorded substantially stronger free-radical scavenging activity than the crude extract, with a DPPH IC50 of 10.67 micrograms per millilitre compared with 50.18.
Biological tests, however, revealed in zebrafish larvae the crude extract was tolerated at higher concentrations and provided stronger protection against hydrogen peroxide-induced oxidative stress. Notably, at 50 micrograms per millilitre, it increased expression of the antioxidant-related gene prdx1 by approximately 1.44-fold, while leaving gstp1 expression broadly unchanged.
Based on this safety profile, the researchers used the crude extract to formulate a foaming cleanser and a spot-gel serum. Both remained physically stable over four weeks at 4 oC, 25 oC and 40 oC. The cleanser inhibited Cutibacterium acnes and Staphylococcus epidermidis, producing inhibition zones of 33.5 and 24.0 millimetres respectively. It also strongly suppressed biofilm formation in both single- and mixed-species cultures. The serum showed no detectable antibacterial activity.
The findings suggest that chemical antioxidant potency alone is insufficient for selecting cosmetic ingredients. Biological safety, formulation chemistry and microbial interactions should be considered too.
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Contact authors:
Minh Hien Nguyen
Department of Organic and Medicinal Chemistry, Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Health Sciences, Ho Chi Minh City 75308, Vietnam
Research Center for Discovery and Development of Healthcare Products, Vietnam National University, Ho Chi Minh City 71309, Vietnam
Vietnam National University Ho Chi Minh City, Ho Chi Minh City 71309, Vietnam
Jin-Han Park
Department of Cosmetic Science, Daegu Haany University, Gyeongbuk 38610, Republic of Korea
The publisher KeAi was established by Elsevier and China Science Publishing & Media Ltd to unfold quality research globally. In 2013, our focus shifted to open access publishing. We now proudly publish more than 200 world-class, open access, English language journals, spanning all scientific disciplines. Many of these are titles we publish in partnership with prestigious societies and academic institutions, such as the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC).
Journal
Journal of Dermatologic Science and Cosmetic Technology
Method of Research
Experimental study
Subject of Research
Animals
Article Title
Aqueous two-phase system as a greener extraction method and the synergistic effects of the herbal mixture for acne-prone skin cosmetic applications
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