Daily Cosmetic Research Analysis

Pickering emulsions have garnered significant attention for their ability to facilitate the controlled and effective delivery of active ingredients across various sectors, including drug release, agriculture, cosmetics, and interfacial catalysis. However, achieving the release of encapsulated active substances typically requires the disruption of emulsion droplets, making programmable release a notable challenge. This study develops a colloidal layer with nanogates at the oil-water interface of Pickering emulsion, utilizing UV light as a non-contact, remote stimulus to enable effective programmable release of encapsulated active substances. By alternating UV and visible light irradiation, this work induces cis-trans isomerization of azobenzene molecules on silica particles, allowing the gaps between colloidal particles to open and close. This demonstrated a promising nanogate effect under UV irradiation, facilitating the programmable release of active substance (perylene) from the Pickering emulsion droplets. This Pickering emulsion system offers precise control over the release amount of perylene by adjusting the colloidal particle size and the duration of UV-visible light exposure, all while maintaining emulsion stability. The successful implementation of this strategy presents a promising platform for non-invasive, programmable release of active substances across diverse applications in food, cosmetics and pharmaceutical fields.

The current genotoxicity testing paradigm provides little mechanistic information, has poor specificity in predicting carcinogenicity in humans, and is not suited to assessing a large number of chemicals. Genomic technologies enable the characterization of genome-wide transcriptional changes in response to chemical treatments that can inform mechanisms or modes of action. These technologies provided an impetus to develop transcriptomic biomarkers that could transform genotoxicity hazard assessment for drugs, cosmetics, and environmental and industrial chemicals. In August 2022, the International Workshops on Genotoxicity Testing (IWGT) held a workshop to critically review progress in the development and application of transcriptomic biomarkers in genotoxicity testing. Here, we describe the findings of this workshop's subgroup that conducted a systematized review and analysis of in vitro transcriptomic biomarkers for evaluating genotoxicity. Although there is a multitude of published reports exploring transcriptomics in genetic toxicology, the working group identified only five in vitro transcriptomic biomarker candidates, of which three (GENOMARK, TGx-DDI, and MU2012) were independently developed with sufficiently defined context of use, validation data, and supporting case studies that warranted inclusion in the review. Although these in vitro biomarkers were developed independently and for different classes of chemicals (TGx-DDI for pharmaceuticals, GENOMARK for cosmetics, and MU2012 for medical and environmental chemicals), they all address the same shortfall of the standard in vitro genotoxicity testing battery, that is, lack of specificity by genotoxicity-induced stress response at the transcriptomic level. In this review, we discuss the development of these in vitro biomarkers, including challenges and progress toward achieving regulatory acceptance.

AIMS: Ultraviolet radiation (UVR) interferes with aspects of life on Earth. It is necessary for the synthesis of important molecules, as vitamin D, but it is harmful to organisms leading to photoaging and skin cancer. Artificial sunscreens prevent these harmful effects, but may be carcinogenic and neurotoxic; also they accumulate in the aquatic ecosystem, harming the environment and leading to coral bleaching. Most artificial sunscreens commercialized are fossil fuel derived and produced by the petrochemical industry. As society turns to bioeconomy, these artificial sunscreens may be substituted by sustainable ones. Algae, cyanobacteria, and fungi produce mycosporines and mycosporine-like aminoacids, which absorb UV radiation and dissipate it as heat. They are a natural source of sunscreen with low or no toxicity and can be produced by biotechnological means; therefore, the aim of this study is to search for mycosporine biosynthesis in yeast from an extreme environment. METHODS AND RESULTS: Chromatographic and spectroscopic data analyses demonstrated for the first time an isolate of Naganishia friedmannii, collected from a site with high UVR incidence, is able to produce mycosporine-glutaminol-glucoside (MGG) and its likely diastereoisomer, when exposed to photosynthetically active radiation (PAR)-UVR light. A biosynthetic gene cluster was identified in the N. friedmannii genome and shown to be induced in response to UVR by real-time polimerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). Phenotypic characterization suggests N. friedmannii is non-pathogenic yeast that tolerates UVC (UltraViolet C) radiation and other stresses. CONCLUSIONS: These features make N. friedmannii suitable for biotechnological applications, adding value to yeast mycosporines as an additive for economically viable, sustainable and environmentally friendly sunscreens.