Ection is used in a wide range of cosmetic applications, and its potential for anti-ageing, UV protection, anti-oxidation, moisturizing and inflammation inhibition has made it popular with many cosmetic companies. Estee Lauder, Bedmar, Shiseido and many other major brands have added ectoin to their cosmetics.

5月 5, 2023Cosmetic ingredients

Here, we share with you some ectoin’s skin benefits in anti-inflammation, skin repair, moisturizing and anti-aging.

Ectoin skin benefits for anti-inflammation

Tumor Necrosis Factor-α (TNF-α) is a pro-inflammatory cytokine that is involved in normal inflammatory and immune responses. It is mainly produced by activated monocytes and macrophages, and functions in vivo as transmembrane TNF-α (tmTNF) and secreted TNF-α (sTNF). TNF-α receptors are divided into two types (TNFR I and TNFR II) and are present on the surface of a variety of cells. Binding of TNF-α to TNFR usually leads to apoptosis, inflammation and tumourigenesis. Stimulate cultured mouse macrophages with LPS. The expression of TNF-α in culture supernatant was determined quantitatively, then to investigate the inhibitory effect of ection on the release of inflammatory factors. The test showed that ection had a good inhibitory effect on the pro-inflammatory factor TNF-α at the concentration of 0.5%-2.0%, and therefore could reduce the damage to the skin caused by inflammation.

Ectoin skin benefits for moisturizing

Ectoin is a cyclised amino acid derivative with a strong electronegative ring structure and good hydrophilicity. It allows water molecules to be oriented around it, changing the spatial arrangement of water molecules. Also, ectoin can organize the surrounding amino acid derivatives to form a stable hydration shell around the cell. And it can maintain the osmotic pressure balance and reduce excessive evaporation of water from the inner cell.

Ectoin skin benefits for skin repair

Ectoin is very good at helping the skin lock in moisture and maintaining a good growth environment for the cells, while at the same time helping the skin barrier to recover and keep the skin healthy and hydrated. Not only is it highly effective in blocking sunlight, but it also protects against airborne pollutants and allergens. In addition to repairing, moisturizing and protecting, ectoin also activates the skin’s Langerhans cells that are important immune cells of the skin, located between the keratinocytes of the skin surface, which protect the skin against microorganisms, UV rays, allergens, etc..

To investigate whether ectoin has a protective effect on UV-induced reduction of epidermal Langerhans cells, the researchers pretreated skin models with placebo (control group) and 4% ectoin (experimental group) for 24 hours, irradiated the skin models with 6 groups of UVB of different intensities (0-300 mJ/cm2) and observed the number of sunburned cells by microscopy.

The test data showed that in ectoin group the number of Langerhans cells damaged by UVB radiation was 0.17, 1.67, 11.00, 74.33 and 64.83 less than in the placebo group. Ectoin reduced the number of sun-damaged cells caused by UVB radiation by 90% when the UVB was 100 mJ/cm2, demonstrating the effectiveness of ectoin in inhibiting the damage caused by UVB radiation to Langerhans cells. It should be noted that at a UVB intensity of 300 mJ/cm2, the number of sun-damaged cells in both the placebo and eectoin groups was 100, indicating that the protective effect of ectoin on cells at this UVB intensity is somewhat limited.

Ectoin skin benefits for repair UV damage

The main damage of UVB on the skin is that long-term exposure to UVB can lead to pigmentation, triggering skin sunburn, redness, allergy, itching and easily lead to skin discolouration. Secondly, long-term UVB exposure can also lead to skin ageing, loss of skin elasticity, sagging and roughness, accelerating the ageing of the skin. Human immortalized epidermal keratin-forming cells HaCaT were irradiated with certain doses of UVA and UVB, and the cells were treated with different concentrations of Ectoin after irradiation to investigate whether it has a repairing effect on UV radiation damage by examining the level of cell proliferation. The test results showed that Ectoin could significantly repair the cell damage caused by UV, with 0.5% Ectoin restoring cell activity to 89.2%, and 2% Ectoin to 98.7%, almost eliminating the damage caused by UV.

Ectoin skin benefits for anti-aging

To determine whether or not Ectoin has a wrinkle reduction effect, researchers recruited participants aged 45 to 60 to apply placebo and 0.5% Ectoin cream around the eyes twice a day for 28 days.

Experimental data proved that the depth and volume roughness of wrinkles after using 0.5% Ectoin cream were negative, indicating that wrinkles had a certain improvement effect, while the wrinkles after using placebo cream were positive, indicating that Ectoin can effectively improve the skin surface condition, with obvious wrinkling effect.

Recently, Ectoin has been increasingly welcomed by customers, due to Ectoin’s skin benefits for anti-inflammation, skin repair, moisturizing and anti-aging. Most cosmetics brand have used Ectoin in their skincare products, such as PROYA, Sen Nature, Bio-MESO, DERMAFIRM, Dr. Yu, SUNPLAY, L’Oréal.

More product details please click Ectoin Introduction.

If you need ectoin sample, please feel free to contact Harly at harly@plamed.cn