Samantharoma

A new study shows that the soy lecithin in our # selling Wrinkle Repair Complex helps deliver the powerful antioxidant CoQ10 where in needs to go. What does that mean for you?

Katie Bird writes: "Using a nano-lipid carrier to deliver the antioxidant CoQ10 can significantly enhance its topical skin delivery and protective effect on the skin."

What is CoQ10?

Coenzyme Q10 – or CoQ10 – is known to have powerful antioxidant effects, and it is the coenzyme’s potential to protect the skin against the UVA-mediated oxidative stress that led researchers to investigate different delivery mechanisms of the ingredient. CoQ10 is synthesized in humans but our capacity to make it decreases with age, and rapidly drops after we pass the age of 40.

Scott Peters and Charles Brain report: “The pharmaceutical industry has embraced nanotechnology to improve drug solubility and increase drug uptake. A recent study has shown a seven-fold increase in intestinal cell uptake of CoQ10 in nanodispersions versus traditional powder formulations.”

According to research led by Yang Yue at Tsinghua University in Beijing, this same nanotechnology is becoming increasing popular in cosmetic delivery systems as they have high substance solubility, powerful skin penetration and low skin irritation.

The scientists in China looked at the ability of the coenzyme to protect fibroblasts from UVA damage, and compared the behavior of CoQ10 in an emulsion to that of CoQ10 that had been nanoencapsulated. The study found that the nanoencapsulated CoQ10 (CoQ10-NLC) had a stronger antioxidative capacity than the CoQ10 in the emulsion form. They also noted that after UVA radiation the fibroblasts that had been treated with CoQ10 NLC had a higher cell viability than those that had received the emulsion treatment.

Improved skin penetration

In addition, the team tested the penetration of the coenzyme in vivo using rat skin.

The skin penetration capability of the nanoencapsulated form of the coenzyme was significantly higher than the emulsion form, which the scientists put down to the soybean lecithin nano carrier.

Soybean lecithin’s ability to bind to lipid cell membranes and to enhance the permeability of these membranes, helped enhance the skin penetration of the ingredient, the researchers argued.

“Because the CoQ10 – NLC displayed such powerful antioxidative ability compared to the general CoQ10 emulsion…the NLC formulation is considered to be the key to the efficient delivery of CoQ10,” they concluded in the study.

Sources:

http://www.cosmeticsdesign.com

http://pubs.acs.org