Study on the Mechanism of Skin Soothing Ingredient- DCR®516 (Kava Root Extract)

12月 28, 2021Cosmetic ingredients

According to the “Expert Consensus on Diagnosis and Treatment of Sensitive Skin in China” published by the “Chinese Journal of Dermatology and Venereology”, the incidence of sensitive skin is popular around the world, with 25.4 to 89.9% in Europe, about 50% in Australia; and 50% in America women are 22.3% to 50.9%, Asian women are 40% to 55.98%, and Chinese women are about 36.1%. The data shows that the demand for skin soothing ingredients at home and abroad is imminent and rising increasingly. Kava root extract, Plamed named it DCR^®516, is an effective skin soothing ingredient.

Figure 1. sensitive skin around the world

According to statistics, kava root extract ranks the top in the volume of growth registered by the National Medical Products Administration in the second quarter of 2021, ranking first in the field of soothing, and second in the entire plant extract.

DCR^®516 (INCI name: Kava Piper Methysticum Root Extract) has a significant immediate analgesic and antipruritic effect. Thus, it has attracted more and more attention from cosmetic engineers in recent years. In order to further explore the mechanism of action of DCR^®516, Plamed has done experiments based on capsaicin to stimulate keratinocytes, hoping to help the cosmetics industry better use of DCR^®516 to provide professional reference data.

DCR®516 Skin Soothing Experimental Principle

Sensitive skin refers to a high-reaction state of the skin under physiological or pathological conditions. It mainly occurs on the face skin. Therefore, as a multiphase receptor widely distributed in the peripheral nervous system, TRPV1 can be directly or indirectly activated by various ligands, thus causing intracellular Ca2+ to increase, triggering action potentials. TRPV1 is closely related to skin burning and pain.

TRPV1 is a gated ion channel receptor, also known as capsaicin receptor; it is a heat-sensitive receptor. Capsaicin activates TRPV1 to further cause Ca2+ influx. After the test substance -DCR^®516 acts, TRPV1 is inhibited and the intracellular Ca2+ concentration is reduced. It indicates that DCR^®516 can achieve a skin soothing effect by inhibiting the influx of TRPV1 and Ca2+.

DCR®516 Skin Soothing Experimental Data

Based on the principle of capsaicin stimulating keratinocytes, the TRPV1 protein content was tested according to the immunofluorescence procedure. The test results are shown in Table 3 and Table 4, and the change trend is shown in Figure 2.

Table 3 TRPV1 immunofluorescence result chart

Table 3 TRPV1 immunofluorescence result chart

Table 4 Summary table of TRPV1 test results

Table 4 Summary table of TRPV1 test results

# means P＜0.05, ## means P＜0.01, for NC group compared with BC group.

* means P＜0.05, ** means P＜0.01, for PC group and sample group compared with NC group.

Figure 2. TRPV1 result trend graph

Figure 2. TRPV1 result trend graph

Compared with the BC group, the TRPV1 protein content of the NC group increased significantly,

indicated that the test stimulation conditions was effective.

Compared with the NC group, the TRPV1 protein content of the PC group decreased significantly,

indicated that the positive control test was effective.

Compared with the NC group, when the concentration of sample DCR®516 was 0.781 mg/mL, the protein content of TRPV1 decreased significantly, and the protein expression level was down-regulated by 28.3%.

DCR®516 Skin Soothing Experiment Conclusion

Based on keratinocytes, compared with the control group, TRPV1 protein content was significantly decreased by 28.3%, indicated that sample DCR^®516 had a soothing effect by inhibiting the expression of TRPV1 protein, when the concentration of sample DCR^®516 was 0.781 mg/mL.

The experiment has consolidated a certain theoretical basis for the skin soothing mechanism of DCR^®516. Plamed found that by consulting domestic and foreign literature, there are documents showing that foreign institutions have explored and discovered that DCR^®516 has an inhibitory effect on action potentials. That is, DCR^®516 can not only inhibit neuroreceptors, but also inhibit neurotransmission after neuroreceptors are activated. It can relieving sensitive skin in different aspects. In the future, we will share more test results on DCR^®516.