The Skin Whitening Effect of Co-Cultured Conditioned Medium: Involvement of Synergy between Stem Cells and Immune Cells

Many researchers have described that mesenchymal stem cells conditioned medium and immune cells conditioned medium have a clear whitening effect when they are used as cosmetic ingredients. In this study, we confirmed the whitening efficacy of various concentrations of immune cells and stem cell conditioned media. The author tried to study a conditioned medium that has a strong whitening effect even with a composition of less than 20% (the most used concentration in cosmetics). Because of the fact that the conditioned medium contains various cytokines and growth factors secreted by stem cells or immune cells, it is known to have effects such as wound healing, antioxidant, and whitening effect. Recently, stem cells have been used not only in the development of cosmetic raw materials but also in skincare procedures, and there are reports being released of cosmetics using immune cells conditioned medium. The concentration-dependent whitening effect equivalently increased as the concentration of the mono-cultured conditioned medium was obtained through the stem cells or immune cells culture. In the case of co-culture, whitening results are like the effect of positive control such as arbutin in the medium carrying only 10% of the co-cultured conditioned medium. It is possible that enhanced whitening efficiency in co-cultured conditioned medium leads to a major innovation in the global cosmetic market.

Study on the Efficacy of Vitamin C Lotion on Skin: Permeable and Anti-Aging

Vitamin C (ascorbic acid) plays an important role in maintaining skin health, and topical vitamin C supplementation can counteract oxidative stress induced by UVA, due to excellent reducibility. To clarify the efficacy of vitamin C on the skin in the carrier of lotion, we studied its permeability, irritation and anti-aging effect in vitro and in vivo, using Franz cell system, cell model and clinical test. The permeability test showed that vitamin C with 10%, 15%, 20% and 25% mass ratio could effectively penetrate skin. The 20% of vitamin C lotion (VCL-20%) had the highest efficiency of transdermal penetration and the diffusion percentage reached 84.707% after 24 h. Besides, the permeation quantity of VCL-20% was 1.43 times that of the control group. Irritation test showed that the cytotoxicity of vitamin C lotion was low. And no allergic reaction happened in the occlusive patch test. Compared with the control group, using vitamin C lotion for 28 days could significantly improve subjects’ skin gloss of 10.53% and improve skin color, enhance facial skin elasticity and tightness of 9.20% and reduce wrinkle area of 12.27% (p < 0.05).

Natural products in cosmetics

The global cosmetics market reached US$500 billion in 2017 and is expected to exceed US$800 billion by 2023,at around a 7%annual growth rate.The cosmetics industry is emerging as one of the fastest-growing industries of the past decade.Data shows that the Chinese cosmetics market was US$60 billion in 2021.It is expected to be the world’s number one consumer cosmetics market by 2050,with a size of approximately US$450 billion.The influence of social media and the internet has raised awareness of the risks associated with the usage of many chemicals in cosmetics and the health benefits of natural products derived from plants and other natural resources.As a result,the cosmetic industry is now paying more attention to natural products.The present review focus on the possible applications of natural products from various biological sources in skin care cosmetics,including topical care products,fragrances,moisturizers,UV protective,and anti-wrinkle products.In addition,the mechanisms of targets for evaluation of active ingredients in cosmetics and the possible benefits of these bioactive compounds in rejuvenation and health,and their potential role in cosmetics are also discussed.