Release and in vitro skin permeation of polyphenols from cosmetic emulsions.

OBJECTIVE: Polyphenols are natural antioxidants, which can inhibit oxidative chain reactions in human skin and prevent therefore some skin diseases and premature ageing. A prerequisite of this behaviour is their permeation through the skin barrier, in particular the stratum corneum (SC). In this study, we investigated the skin permeation kinetic of polyphenols, incorporated to semisolid emulsions, and the release of polyphenols from the emulsions. METHODS: Mixtures of model substances, consisting of catechin, epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG), resveratrol, quercetin, rutin and protocatechuic acid (PCA), were formulated into o/w emulsions with different oil phase content. The in vitro experiments were carried out in Franz-type diffusion cells by means of ex vivo pig skin and a cellulose membrane. RESULTS: The increased oil content in the emulsion led to a significant decrease in initial release coefficients (K(r)), diffusion coefficients within the formulation (D(v)) and skin permeation coefficients (K(p)), respectively. The study considered the dependence of K(r) on molecular weight and lipophilicity of polyphenolics. For both more hydrophilic and more lipophilic substance groups, the values for K(r) were inverse proportional to molecular weight. For catechin, quercetin, rutin, resveratrol and PCA, a good correlation between K(p) and K(r) parameters was obtained. The most permeable substance was PCA (K(p) = 1.2·10(-3) cm h(-1)), and the least permeable was quercetin (K(p) = 1.5·10(-5) cm h(-1)). CONCLUSION: All substances could pass the SC barrier and were found mostly in the epidermis and dermis, confirming the potential of polyphenols as anti-ageing active cosmetic ingredients.

Determination of the Maillard product oxalic acidmonolysinylamide (OMA) in heated milk products by ELISA.

Oxalic acid monolysinylamide (OMA), a Maillard product which had initially been identified as a reaction product of L-ascorbic acid, was formed, dependent on the reaction conditions, also from other carbohydrate sources. At elevated temperatures and in the presence of oxygen, the reaction of lactose with proteins resulted in the formation of relatively high amounts of OMA. Using a polyclonal antibody, which bound with high specificity and affinity to OMA-modified proteins, a competitive enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) was developed to measure OMA formation in heat-treated milk products. The assay performance was characterized for OMA-modified beta-lactoglobulin diluted in buffer or pasteurized milk. For the latter, the least detectable dose was determined as 1.4 ng/ml with a linear range for quantification between 2 ng/ml and 200 ng/ml. For some samples intra- and interassay variation were determined. The ELISA was used to measure OMA-formation in heated milk and commercially available infant formula.