In order to stay ahead of the curve, skin care product manufacturers are continually looking for better and more effective treatments. This “technology race” has helped to introduce a plethora of proven ingredients, such as retinols and vitamin Cs, various skin restructuring peptides, algae-derived extracts, and plant stem cells, just to name a few. Marketing experts have been very vocal about the presence of these ingredients in their products, touting trade names and percentages and enticing clients with proven test results and “before and after” that many of these ingredients have yielded in in-vitro testing. Your clients have most likely been exposed to them through consumer marketing campaigns. The following is a behind-the-scenes look at some of those trends.

Ingredients for Increased Energy and Metabolism
Every cell has hundreds to thousands of mitochondria, energy producing organelles responsible for producing more than 98 percent of the body’s energy required for healthy metabolism and cellular functioning. As we age, we face an “energy crisis.” Each year mitochondria become less efficient due to oxidation and damage caused by free radicals, ultraviolet and daily aggressors. As an individual cell’s available energy decreases, metabolism, cellular productivity, and regeneration also decrease. The reduction of cell metabolism and synthesis abilities results in wrinkles, slack skin, and a loss of radiance.
As this phenomenon has become better understood, the skin care market has become saturated with products that promise to energize tired skin. These activities and claims are a direct result of ingredients whose function is, both, to assist mitochondria in energy production and reestablish healthy cellular metabolism.
Various algae-derived minerals are known to increase cellular metabolic rate and amino acids are proven cellular energizers, such as the amino acid ergothinoneine. A new product, niacinamide, is a rising star among these cellular energizers and radiance boosters. A physiologically active form of niacin or vitamin B3, niacinamide forms the essential part of the coenzymes used to generate energy inside the cells which drive cell metabolism that is depleted with age. Niacinamide is implicated in more than 40 of the biochemical reactions identified to be paramount for normal tissue integrity, particularly for the skin.
Niacinamide offers multiple benefits in the fight against the signs of aging and photo-damaged skin. It can stimulate new collagen synthesis in aged fibroblasts and improve the strength of the extra cellular matrix (ECM). It increases ceramide production and improves barrier function by increasing epidermal protein synthesis, keratin, filaggrin, and involucrin, and reducing transepidermal water loss (TEWL). Niacinamide inhibits the transfer of melanosomes from melanocytes to keratinocytes and in concentrations of two to five percent, reduces hyperpigmentation and facial spot formation. It also regulates sebaceous lipid production, improves acne related skin imperfections and in a concentration of four percent, provides potent anti-inflammatory activity in the treatment of acne vulgaris. Niacinamide is an ingredient with an extraordinary breadth of skin benefits, which makes it an ideal ingredient.

Fine Tuning Cellular Plumbing for Hydration
Hydration has always been an integral part of all skin treatments and products, providing benefits to all skin types regardless of the skin’s issues. Hyaluronic acid, panthenol, glycerin, and many different sugars have long been “go to” hydrators, readily accepted by consumers and relatively easy to incorporate in formulas. But the way we think about and approach long-term cellular hydration has changed over the last decade due to some astonishing discoveries in the field of biochemistry.
Peter Agree, an American hematologist awarded the Nobel Prize for Chemistry in 2003, discovered the existence of water channels called aquaporins, membrane-channel proteins that regulate and facilitate water molecules’ transport through cell membranes. His discovery made it possible for us to understand how the cell’s “internal plumbing system” transports not only water, but also glycerol, urea and natural moisturizing factors through the epidermis.
Like other skin proteins, these water channels decline with age. Skin may be hydrated, but little water is delivered inside cells, leaving the skin looking flat, dull and lackluster. The good news is aquaporins can be activated and rebuilt. Molecules from the Brazilian tree Piptadenia colubrina increase the presence of aquaporins up to 11 times within hours of application, repairing the damaged stratum corneum and redensifying the dermis. Piptadenia colubrina increases aquaporin-3 (AQP-3) in skin that transports water, glycerol, and natural moisturizing factors through the epidermis. It also stimulates the synthesis of filaggrin, an essential protein for the structure of the stratum corneum and precursor of natural moisturizing factors. During the last phases of keratinocyte differentiation, filaggrin is degraded into amino acids to form natural moisturizing factors. It restores skin barrier function and reduces TEWL.

TEUL versus TEWL
French ingredient manufacturer Codif introduced a new concept in 2007 called transepidermal urea loss (TEUL). TEUL is a measurement of urea evaporation, equivalent to TEWL for measuring water evaporation.
TEUL highlights the importance of urea in barrier health, as urea is one of the major soluble substances of the stratum corneum and seven to eight percent is concentrated in natural moisturizing factors. Urea deficiency leads to dry skin and diseases such as atopic dermatosis. Boosting urea, contributes to TEWL reduction.
A new target for increased cellular hydration is another channel protein, aquaporin 8 (AQP8), responsible for carrying water, glycerol, and urea. Salicornia, a plant grown in a salt environment, makes a protein similar to human aquaporin 8. The extract of salicornia was shown to increase aquaporin 8 by 200 percent and filaggrin by 34 percent, the precursor of natural moisturizing factors. This represents a very unique approach in increasing urea and filaggrin in the skin and therefore reinforcing the natural moisturizing factors.

Retinoids versus Retinol-alternatives or Bio-retionoids
Various forms of vitamin A have always been valued as “must haves” in the anti-aging ingredient arsenal of most popular brands. Retinol, the most potent cosmetic form of vitamin A and retinoic acid, only available by prescription, are known as vitamin A forms that provide the most profound transformation in sun damaged, aging, and acne-prone skin. While the benefits of retinol and retinoic acid on aging and acne-prone skin outweigh the risks, it is estimated that about 20 percent of the population is unable to use retinol based products due to irritation, skin sensitivities, and discomfort. It is also important to acknowledge that one of the most important benefits of retinoids is their ability to volumize the skin by stimulating collagen synthesis, but that collagen build up in the skin is the result of cell’s inflammatory response. Being that inflammation is one of the leading causes of aging, repeatedly inducing inflammation in order to stimulate collagen, is clearly not the best long-term anti-aging strategy. The cosmetic industry has been on the lookout for ingredients that can replace the benefits of retinoids, but minimize the risks associated with inflammation caused by retinoids. A new group of ingredients has emerged over the last several years that offer just that, retinol-like benefits with no inflammation. They also offer an added benefit, the ability to be utilized in daytime formulations. Retinoids, unlike retinoid alternatives that are not photosensitive and can be utilized in day products, have traditionally been used at night since they can cause photosensitivity and their activity diminishes when they are exposed to light. Revinage, a bioretinoid derived from Bidens pilosa, a herbaceous plant commonly found throughout the Amazon rainforests in Brazil, offers retinoid-like activity without adverse effects commonly linked to the use of retinoids. Revinage fights wrinkles and fine lines, improves texture and luminosity of the skin, and restores firmness in mature skin, but does not stimulate the secretion of proinflammatory cytokines (skin irritation mediators). Instead, it decreases the action of cytokines, proteins involved in cellular responses, to inflammation caused by stress, free radicals, ultraviolet irradiation and many other factors.

References
1 Matts, P.J. “A Review of the Range of Effects of Niacinamide in Human Skin.” IFSCC Magazine 5.4 (2002): 285-289. Gensler, H.L. “Prevention of Photoimmunosuppression a. photocarcinogenesis by Topical Nicotinamide.” Nutrition & Cancer 29.2: (1997): 157-162.
2 Feldmann, R.J. and Maibach, H.I. “Absorption of Some Organic Compounds Through the Skin in Man.” Journal of Investigative Dermatology 54 (1970): 399-404.
3 Tanno, O., et al. “Nicotinamide Increases Biosynthesis of Ceramides as well as Other Stratum Corneum Lipids to Improve the Epidermal Permeability Barrier.” Br. J. Dermatol 143 (2000): 524-531.
4 Schroeder, P., et al. “Infrared Radiation-Induced Matrix Metalloproteinase in Human Skin: Implications for Protection.” Journal of Investigative Dermatology 28.10 (2008): 2491-2497.

Irena James, Director of Product Development for YG Laboratories, has educated generations of students and industry peers on skin care ingredients, treatment protocols and brand development. Irena’s versatile experience in the skin care industry spans over 20 years, during which Irena worked as an aesthetician, educator, territory sales manager and director of business development in the EU. She is an Assistant Instructor at the UCLA Extension Cosmetic Sciences Program and a member of BIW and the Society of
Cosmetic Chemists.