PREPRINTS OF THE 1998 ANNUAL SCIENTIFIC MEETING 87 COSMETIC ACTIVE INGREDIENTS: THE NEW MILLENIUM AND BEYOND Lisa Lods, Caren Dres, Christopher Johnson, Durant Scholz, Geoffrey Brooks Brooks Industries, South Plainfield, NJ 07080 Generally speaking the new millenium is not holding forth any bold new promises, other than perhaps employment opportunity for computer consultants caused by the Y2K situation. The approaching millenium does seem to be ushering some interesting changes within the approach the cosmetic industry is taking towards active ingredients. In many ways the changes within the cosmetic industry mirror the development of medical practices as they evolve from the herbal approach of primitive indigenous cultures to crude drugs, to today's application of purified pharmaceutical compounds. Perhaps the strongest driving forces behind the changes which occurred in the medical community was the increased ability of the healer to accurately treat patients with well characterized if not highly purified compounds. A good example of this would be the adoption of foxglove as an herbal remedy. Literally an old wives remedy for dropsy, foxglove was widely adopted as a treatment for hypertension. Unfortunately the therapeutic dosage is very close to the lethal dose. Due to seasonal and regional variation in active content, patients were sometimes rushed to an untimely end. Consequently the active component, digitalis was isolated and purified to eliminate such problems. Traditionally many of the active ingredients available to the cosmetic chemists such as thymus or placenta extract were derived from animal sources. Now because of both public relations and safety concerns, animal derived actives are no longer acceptable to global marketers. Plant extracts, long a mainstay as both active and promotional materials are currently under what has become not necessarily a positive review by the CIR. These developments have caused cosmetic companies to look for actives with defined activity or purified phytochemicals. With these changes in mind we have looked at two plant derived materials as examples of this trend. The first material we will discuss is an extract from the seeds of Fennel (Foeniculum vulgate Miller). Seeds, due to the heightened metabolism and consequent exposure to oxidative stress encountered during germination are ideal sources of antioxidants. Among the antioxidants present are significant

88 JOURNAL OF COSMETIC SCIENCE quantities of oxido-reductases such as Superoxide Dismutase (SOD), Catalase, and Peroxidase. We have used an aqueous extraction process to isolate the enzymes that are responsible for the neutralization of destructive peroxides. Enzymatic antioxidants are a particular area of interest. Much of the work conducted on SOD has shown that is outperforms more traditional antioxidants, most probably by virtue of the fact that SOD is not consumed in the process of neutralizing the reactive oxygen species (ROS). Hydrogen peroxide is a highly destructive ROS. Hydrogen peroxide can effect cells through a variety of mechanisms. From a cellular point of view one of the most damaging effects of hydrogen peroxide is its ability to react with cell membrane lipids producing lipid peroxides. In vitro studies have shown that Fennel extract is capable of inhibiting the generation of lipid peroxides by approximately 84% in comparison to the approximately 40% inhibition produced by Tocopherol. A biologically active human skin equivalent (MatTek EPI-200) was used to analyze the inhibition of Prostaglandin F--a (PGE2) synthesis. PGF_.a is part of the arachidonic acid inflammatory cascade. Inhibition of PGF_a synthesis may be inferred to block the development of visible irritation. Fennel extract inhibits PGF_a synthesis by approximately 45% relative to an irradiated control. The cultures were irradiated with 1.5 MED/hr/cm 2 (31.5 mJ/cm 2) UVA/UVB using a solar simulator( When applied topic.ally Fennel extract reduced UV induced erythema by 65% in a human panel •. It is interesting to consider that there is no evidence that oxido-reductases penetrate the skin. Oxido-reductases are capable of reducing UV induced erythema. Based on the ability of these enzymes to inhibit lipid peroxidation it is reasonable to assume that the topical oxidation of lipids tend to propagate downward through the stratum comeurn promoting erythema. This concept brings to light the importance of materials that protect against environmental insult. In the area of purified phytochemicals a variety of materials which are characterized as phytoestrogens have been receiving significant levels of attention. These compounds may generally be divided into several broad categories: isoflavones, flavones, coumestans, lignans, resorcylic acid lactones, and phytosterols. Phytoestrogens make attractive targets as active ingredients. As the women age, endogenous levels of estrogen decrease eliciting significant changes in skin appearance. Traditionally placenta