COSMETICS & PERSONAL CARE
A B
C
Figure 2 - Relative carbonylation level in Afro-textured , type 4A hair shaft exposed to exposome stress damage and treated with 1 % natural active ingredient
Note : Carbonylation level in the whole hair ( A ) and in the different compartments : cuticle ( B ) and cortex ( C ). ( D ) In situ visualisation of oxidized proteins on lateral cuticle view and cross-section of hair ( sagittal view ). Data shown as mean ± SEM of the mean of 3 images . Statistical significance ; ** p < 0.01 ; **** p < 0.0001 calculated using one-way ANOVA test .
D
The next day , cells were washed and treated with Xpozuki Biotech Ingredient at 1 % and 2 % ( v / v ) in culture medium for six hours . Then , cell viability was quantified following PrestoBlue reagent instructions . The results showed that treatment with Xpozuki Biotech Ingredient protected and repaired epidermal keratinocytes and dermal fibroblast co-culture from the exposome stress damage ( Figure 1 ).
Protein carbonylation
Our second test focused on whether Xpozuki Biotech Ingredient provided protein carbonylation protection from exposome stress on multiethnic hair shafts . Human hair shafts from Asian ( Type 1 ), African ( Type 4A ) and Caucasian ( Type 1 ) donors , according to the Andre Walker Hair Typing System , were treated with
Xpozuki Biotech Ingredient at 1 % ( v / v ) for 30 minutes . They were then dried by natural evaporation at room temperature and were stressed with cedar pollen ( only for Asian hair ), followed by particulate matter PM 10 ( 150 µ g / cm 2 ) and UV-A irradiation for six hours .
Immediately following exposome stress , protein carbonylation was measured using a specific fluorescent probe . For hair shaft cross-sections , in each image , the quantification of carbonylation level was independently obtained for the different compartments ( cuticle or cortex ) and for the whole hair . Three images per condition were used to quantify the carbonylation levels .
In Afro-textured hair shafts ( Type 4A ), exposome stress increased protein carbonylation significantly . As proteins primarily make up the hair shaft , it is crucial to protect them against the oxidative damage caused by exposome stress . Testing confirmed that Xpozuki Biotech Ingredient had high efficacy in protecting the hair shaft from protein oxidation caused by exposome stress ( Figure 2 ).
Multi-ethnic hair & skin clinical study
The final evaluation completed was a skin and hair multi-ethnic in vivo clinical study to confirm the cosmetic benefits of a cosmetic formulation containing 2 % Xpozuki Biotech Ingredient under exposome stress damage .
In a multi-ethnic panel of 62 healthy , adult female volunteers of Caucasian , Asian , Latin American or African descent , with skin phototypes from II-VI and hair types from 2A-4B , were divided in two different groups : the active group ( applying an active formulation containing 2 % of active ingredient twice a day , n = 32 ) and the placebo group ( applying a cosmetic formulation without any active ingredient , n = 30 ).
The skin formulation was applied twice a day on the whole face for 28 days and a leave-on formulation was applied once a day to the hair for 14 days . All the volunteers spent four hours each day outdoors in Rio de Janeiro . Skin tone , skin
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