Antioxidants in the Skin: New Knowledge and Old Hypotheses as Challenges for Cosmetic Industry and Cosmetology

Dear Colleagues,

The Special Issue will target the complex and controversial problem of cutaneous antioxidants. Since decades, classical dietary antioxidants such as vitamin E, vitamin C, and coenzyme Q10 in the skin have been considered as essential protective factors against environment-born free radicals associated with solar UV radiation, organic toxins, heavy metals, dust particles, ozone, and electro-chemical smog. The pioneer findings that the levels of these antioxidants decreased with the age and in the presence of definite skin pathologies allowed to draw a conclusion that topical dermatological and/or cosmetological preparations as well as food supplements able of replenishing normal concentrations of these dietary antioxidants in the skin could protect human skin against premature and chronological ageing and could be remedies for the cutaneous diseases. Until now, there were no reliable clinical data showing either protective or curative effects of topically-applied direct antioxidants. The same is true for antioxidants of plant/marine organism origin pre-selected in the in vitro systems generating free radicals or initiating free radical-driven chain reactions. Notwithstanding the lack of clinical confirmation, the mountain of papers and company brochures claiming tremendous skin health effects of topical antioxidants has been growing.

This controversy of topical antioxidants was partly explained with the discovery that skin itself is a huge generator of free radicals essential for its functions. Physiological roles of reactive oxygen, nitrogen, and lipid species (many of them are free radicals) are numerous as they act for signal transduction, cell proliferation, differentiation, senescence and death. They possess anti-bacterial, anti-viral, and anti-tumour potentials.

The skin is peculiarly rich of effective endogenous anti-oxidant systems located within all skin layers (lipid- and water soluble antioxidants/free radical scavengers and antioxidant enzymes). These systems appeared during evolution to maintain pro-oxidant/anti-oxidant (or redox balance) in the skin and underlying organism. The latest discovery of “indirect” antioxidants, compounds that stably induce endogenous antioxidant systems through Nrf2 mechanism, resulted in critical re-evaluation of biological, clinical, and cosmetological relevance of short-living direct antioxidants.

Here, we invite experts to contribute to the coming Special Issue with original research or review papers on the following topics (although the list is not limited by these topics):

-antioxidant and pro-oxidant properties of ageing or ailing skin

-redox regulation of skin barrier functions/ role of cosmetic antioxidants

-biologically relevant systems/methods to determine antioxidant/free radical scavenging/metal chelating properties of potential actives for cosmetic compositions

-skin photo protection and antioxidants

-cosmetic preparations to rescue endogenous antioxidants in the skin as a supportive care for chronic inflammatory skin diseases

-anti-age cosmetic preparations and cosmetology procedures to replenish non-enzymatic antioxidants

-technologies for preparation anti-age cosmetic compositions with antioxidant properties

-active ingredients of cosmetic/dermatological preparation to induce endogenous antioxidant enzymes

-technologies for targeted delivery of direct and indirect antioxidants to definite skin layers

Prof. Dr. Liudmila G. Korkina
Dr. Wolfgang Mayer
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

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• antioxidants
• antioxidant properties
• skin ageing
• skin photo protection
• anti-age cosmetology