An Insight into the Cosmetic and Dermatologic Applications of the Molecules of Palmyra Palm

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

The submitted paper 'An Insight into the Cosmetic Products of Palmyra Palm by the Application of its Molecules and Materials' is interesting and could be published after some improvements.

Information regarding the observed concentrations of major ingredients should be included. Moreover, the differences between the content of described components in different part of Palmyra palm could be added.

Additional correction should be also made:

line 88, 370: names of compounds should be written in lower case

lines 196, 197: references for Jamkhande et al and aschapur et al should be included

line 204: what method was applied to evaluate IC50

line 236: SPF is abbreviation of Sun Protection Factor, so it should be better to write Sun Protection Factor (SPF)

line 361: similar to 236 (MRSA)

references 11, 14, 17, 27, 41, 44, 47 should be corrected

Author Response

Comments 1: Information regarding the observed concentrations of major ingredients should be included. Moreover, the differences between the content of described components in different part of Palmyra palm could be added.

Response 1: Available information on the observed concentrations of major ingredients found from the corresponding parts has been included in lines: 59-60, 73-74, 81-82, 85, 91-94. Notably, not much data on the differences between their content across different parts of the Palmyra palm could be availed from the literature.

Comments 2: Additional correction should be also made:

line 88, 370: names of compounds should be written in lower case

lines 196, 197: references for Jamkhande et al and Paschapur et al should be included

line 204: what method was applied to evaluate IC50

line 236: SPF is abbreviation of Sun Protection Factor, so it should be better to write Sun Protection Factor (SPF)

line 361: similar to 236 (MRSA)

references 11, 14, 17, 27, 41, 44, 47 should be corrected

Response 2: All cited corrections for lowercase letters (lines 378 and 93-94) and abbreviations (lines 244 and 369) have been made. References for Jamkhande et al. and Paschapur et al. have been included as [32] and [49]. The method for IC50 evaluation has been mentioned in the lines 209-210. References 11, 14, 17, 27, 41, 44, 47 correspond to [7], [16], [19], [29], [44], [47], [3] respectively as per the revised list of references.

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Reviewer 2 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

The aim of this manuscript seems to be unclear starting from the Abstract, where no specific determination of the presented results is provided.

 

The authors cumulated the published results on Palmyra palms; however, such presentation would be beneficial if not only the products from the Palmyra palms were presented but also their efficiency in a comparison with other products. Unfortunately, the manuscript misses any such evaluation of any Palmyra product.

If the authors would want to present their manuscript as a review, then a sound criticism of the introduced papers is lacking, and all the references are presented at the same positive level (and any comparison with other products is missing). In other words, I can see no additive value. In such case I can use the WoS pages with the key words Palmyra and Cosmetics, and I will obtain the same result.

Based on the above remarks I cannot recommend the submitted manuscript for publication in the journal Cosmetics.

Author Response

Comment 1: The aim of this manuscript seems to be unclear starting from the Abstract, where no specific determination of the presented results is provided.

Response 1: The aim of the manuscript is to present the positive potential of the molecules of Palmyra in the context of some of the cosmetics that have already been developed harnessing their properties. Thus, the abstract reflects an overview of the paper that focusses a futuristic documentation of how the known molecules of Palmyra can be implemented in cosmetology and dermatology.

Comment 2: The authors cumulated the published results on Palmyra palms; however, such presentation would be beneficial if not only the products from the Palmyra palms were presented but also their efficiency in a comparison with other products. Unfortunately, the manuscript misses any such evaluation of any Palmyra product.

Response 2: The cosmetics developed from Palmyra palm have been documented on the basis of their utilisation of respective parts of the species- all of which exhibit certain benefits owing to a combination of biomolecules. Due to the lack of a quantifiable standard reference point, a fair comparison between the benefits (such as the enhancement of the radiance and smoothness of skin) from Palmyra-based cosmetics and those from other biocosmetics is difficult.

Comment 3: If the authors would want to present their manuscript as a review, then a sound criticism of the introduced papers is lacking, and all the references are presented at the same positive level (and any comparison with other products is missing). In other words, I can see no additive value. In such case, I can use the WoS pages with the keywords Palmyra and Cosmetics, and I will obtain the same result.

Response 3: Importantly, the paper does not simply combine the web results from Palmyra and cosmetics, rather it provides a thorough discussion of the potential its known molecules hold in the field of cosmetology as well as dermatology.

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Reviewer 3 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

The author Sayanhika et al. have highlighted the cosmetics application of Palmyra palm. However there are a few issues which needs to be addressed .

1. The title of the article is confusing, needs to be more concise and attractive.

2. The author should highlight the important of the plant species and its medicinal potentials in the introduction part.

3. The heading 'Materials and Moluceses" looks confusing, the author should change it.

4. more emphasis on the different types of the compounds extracted from the plant species, their extraction procedures etc should be described in detail with heading and subheadings.

5. The table legend should be mentioned above the table now below the table and the author should cite the references in the table 1.

6. The conclusion is too small need to elaborate more.

Comments on the Quality of English Language

Moderate editing of English language required.

Author Response

Comment 1: The title of the article is confusing, needs to be more concise and attractive.

Response 1: The title of the article has been changed to ‘An Insight into the Cosmetic and Dermatologic Applications of the Molecules of Palmyra Palm’.

Comment 2: The author should highlight the important of the plant species and its medicinal potentials in the introduction part.

Response 2: The introduction part has been modified by curtailing distractions to highlight the medicinal potential of Palmyra among the points of its importance. Its ‘medicinal purpose’ has been explicitly included in lines 43-44.

Comment 3: The heading 'Materials and Molecules" looks confusing, the author should change it.

Response 3: The heading has been changed by omitting the term ‘materials’ and rearranging to make more sense of the term ‘molecules’ in relevance.

Comment 4: More emphasis on the different types of the compounds extracted from the plant species, their extraction procedures etc should be described in detail with heading and subheadings.

Response 4: Subheadings and further details have been added for the extracted compounds. Role of the said compounds in cosmetic and therapeutic formulations has been covered.

Most studies compiling the physicochemical attributes of Palmyra palm focusses on the detection of biomolecules, rather than its extraction. Preparation of most of the cosmetics mentioned in the paper were based on specific parts of the species that are known to have beneficial ingredients, instead of the extraction of particular molecules. However, since cosmetics solely relying on individual molecule groups derived from Palmyra palm, rather than a combination of molecule groups, is a recommended possibility (which requires more research on the topic), known detection and analysis processes of the molecules have been documented to guide individual extraction procedures.

Comment 5: The table legend should be mentioned above the table now below the table and the author should cite the references in the table 1.

Response 5: The table legend has been shifted to above the table and in-text citations have been added to table 1.

Comment 6: The conclusion is too small need to elaborate more.

Response 6: The conclusion has been further elaborated.

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Reviewer 4 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

 

This is a really quite superficial description of the links between Palmyra palm extracts and cosmetology.  Only groups of chemical entities are mentioned rather than specific chemicals extracted from the various parts of the palm.  Overall, there is an indication that the manuscript is trying too hard to demonstrate how wonderful this plant is rather than looking critically at it.  There is no doubt that components of the plant may be useful in cosmetology and even in development of therapeutic entities, but it is not a panacea, nor is it a complete pharmacopoeia, and many other botanical and other natural sources of many of these chemicals exist.  So some limitation to the enthusiasm about the plant is required in the drafting.

I have not looked at the various references cited for each of these interactions but what I have looked at appeared to be similarly superficial in specifying chemical effects on the various claims.  In fact some claims are possibly spurious, e.g. 342-345 describes using a 10% w/w DMSO extract of “palm leaf secretion extracts” in would healing, with the implied claim that the palm leaf extract was the active principle involved.  However, DMSO alone has been indicated as a wound healer of similar effectiveness (https://doi.org/10.1016/j.wndm.2020.100194). Consequently, some real evidence of palm derived activity should be investigated also.

Much of the wording throughout the text is non-scientific and it is not clear how some of components of the palm extracts are being claimed to show activity.  As I read the text it implies, for example, that ascorbic acid (vitamin C) applied topically can have effects at the level of collagen fibres, whereas the cited publication actually refers to vitamin C taken as a dietary supplement, because the water-soluble vitamin is not absorbed transdermally, a problem facing most of the chemical entities described in the manuscript.

I think this manuscript requires a considerable redrafting to include more specific scientific concepts and to improve the colloquial language into a more scientific format.  There are so many points that require clarification or improvement that I do not have time or inclination to go over them line by line, and it is not my job to rewrite the article for you.  The basic concept is largely sound but it does need some critical thinking and probably a complete rewrite as the simplest approach to improving it.

Table 1, which could be most informative if drafted correctly with chemical names rather than groupings such as “flavonoids” or “biomolecules” needs specific data rather than the woolly descriptions given here.

Comments on the Quality of English Language

This manuscript does require language improvement.  The general tone uses a somewhat colloquial approach with trivial terms being used rather than scientific ones over much of the text.  There is an indication that different sections of the text may have been drafted by different authors, giving rise to some of the disparity.

An example of how the text wording may be improved can be taken from the first two sentences of the Abstract, which currently read "Palmyra palm is a resourceful plant species that can be put to use in superabundance. Its extensive range of use stretches in all directions- making it useful for consumption in countless forms, and the cosmetic industry is not a deviation from this."  This would be better drafted as "Palmyra palm is a plant species rich in possible resources for use in wide range of aspects of cosmetology."  Words like countless, and superabundance are inappropriate scientifically and some of the other terms like "stretches in all directions" are relatively meaningless.  The whole text should be scoured for similar incongruities.

Author Response

Comment 1: This is a really quite superficial description of the links between Palmyra palm extracts and cosmetology.  Only groups of chemical entities are mentioned rather than specific chemicals extracted from the various parts of the palm.  Overall, there is an indication that the manuscript is trying too hard to demonstrate how wonderful this plant is rather than looking critically at it.  There is no doubt that components of the plant may be useful in cosmetology and even in development of therapeutic entities, but it is not a panacea, nor is it a complete pharmacopoeia, and many other botanical and other natural sources of many of these chemicals exist.  So some limitation to the enthusiasm about the plant is required in the drafting.

Response 1: Chemical entities from the mentioned molecule groups have been narrated in relation to their potential in cosmetic formulations. For instance, available flavonoids and phenolics were further clarified as tannin, gallic acid, chlorogenic acid, rutin and caffeic acid. Steroidal saponins were narrowed down to Flabelliferins. Specific vitamins, fibre and reducing sugar types have been mentioned as well. Since the properties of interest, such as radical-scavenging, arise from the chemicals belonging to certain chemical groups. New sections commenting on the cosmetic application of individual phenolic and carotenoid compounds found in Palmyra have been added.

The paper includes indications about the potential drawbacks and health hazards of Palmyra-based cosmetics- citing the limitations cosmetics developed from Palmyra have warned about. For example, the facewash, solid and liquid soap formulation was not suitable for oily skin types due to having high lipid content. As for the discussed molecules, like any other chemical, their application will have to be optimised when adopted into cosmetic and therapeutic products. Still, such implication has been explicitly stressed in this new version of the manuscript.

Otherwise, the paper does highly promote the potential of Palmyra’s molecules in the cosmetic industry as this one species provides a large variety of effective molecules. Irrespective of other similar sources of biocosmetics, the paper aims to reflect its potential that can be looked into for further research and development in the field, instead of branding Palmyra to be the solution to all skin problems.

Comment 2: I have not looked at the various references cited for each of these interactions but what I have looked at appeared to be similarly superficial in specifying chemical effects on the various claims.  In fact some claims are possibly spurious, e.g. 342-345 describes using a 10% w/w DMSO extract of “palm leaf secretion extracts” in would healing, with the implied claim that the palm leaf extract was the active principle involved.  However, DMSO alone has been indicated as a wound healer of similar effectiveness (https://doi.org/10.1016/j.wndm.2020.100194). Consequently, some real evidence of palm derived activity should be investigated also.

Response 2: The mentioned excerpt does not indicate that the palm leaf extracts were the causative agents for wound healing. The section was included in the ‘developed cosmetics’ part where the successful use of Palmyra’s parts for cosmetic and therapeutic products was listed. The use of DMSO with the extract has been narrated to have resulted in an efficient wound dressing which also exhibited inhibition to Vibrio mimicus (found in wound infections) before the incorporation of DMSO. Thus, even if the wound healing cannot be entirely credited to the leaf extracts (which the paper did not), such dressing will prevent infections mainly because of the leaf’s molecular properties. Accordingly, Table 1 lists the effect of leaf extracts as ‘anti-microbe’ and not ‘wound healing’.

Comment 3: Much of the wording throughout the text is non-scientific and it is not clear how some of components of the palm extracts are being claimed to show activity. As I read the text it implies, for example, that ascorbic acid (vitamin C) applied topically can have effects at the level of collagen fibres, whereas the cited publication actually refers to vitamin C taken as a dietary supplement, because the water-soluble vitamin is not absorbed transdermally, a problem facing most of the chemical entities described in the manuscript.

Response 3: All of the sources cited about the role of vitamins in cosmetic and therapeutic formulations, including Vitamin C, include topical application. The Paper by Wang et al. (https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/physiology/articles/10.3389/fphys.2018.00819/full) mentions that the efficiency of Vitamin C is low for transdermal penetration, thus more studies are required to increase the stability of topical products. Some of the effects are specified for oral intake as the route sets off from plasma to the dermis. However, modes of achieving other effects, such as melanocyte reduction is not limited to oral administration. The paper cites other studies that explicitly focus on the dermal applications of Vitamin C culture media on skin substitutes, explants and such. Additional remarks on the instability of Vitamin C have been added now.

Comment 4: I think this manuscript requires a considerable redrafting to include more specific scientific concepts and to improve the colloquial language into a more scientific format.  There are so many points that require clarification or improvement that I do not have time or inclination to go over them line by line, and it is not my job to rewrite the article for you. The basic concept is largely sound but it does need some critical thinking and probably a complete rewrite as the simplest approach to improving it.

Response 4: The sections covering chemical compounds and quantitative data do not rely on general terms to elaborate scientific mechanisms or effects. However, a few sections based on qualitative information are intentionally kept uncomplicated considering a writing style that is built on scientific knowledge but prompts general understanding.

Comment 5: Table 1, which could be most informative if drafted correctly with chemical names rather than groupings such as “flavonoids” or “biomolecules” needs specific data rather than the woolly descriptions given here.

Response 5: In section 4, the effects and potential products listed in the table have been elaborated in reference to scientific papers. It depicts the skin diseases and conditions that have been treated by the application of Palmyra’s molecules quantified in the previous sections of the paper. Since this paper is based on the ‘properties’ of said molecules, there is not enough scope to include numeric data on exactly ‘how effective’ the molecules are.

Comment 6: This manuscript does require language improvement.  The general tone uses a somewhat colloquial approach with trivial terms being used rather than scientific ones over much of the text.  There is an indication that different sections of the text may have been drafted by different authors, giving rise to some of the disparity.

An example of how the text wording may be improved can be taken from the first two sentences of the Abstract, which currently read "Palmyra palm is a resourceful plant species that can be put to use in superabundance. Its extensive range of use stretches in all directions- making it useful for consumption in countless forms, and the cosmetic industry is not a deviation from this."  This would be better drafted as "Palmyra palm is a plant species rich in possible resources for use in wide range of aspects of cosmetology."  Words like countless, and superabundance are inappropriate scientifically and some of the other terms like "stretches in all directions" are relatively meaningless.  The whole text should be scoured for similar incongruities.

Response 6: The paper, overall, has used general terms for parts that do not require scientific wording. Words like ‘countless and superabundance’ are not usually taken for their literal meaning, but rather used to imply a broad range. Since the context of using such words does not involve numeric data, it does not warrant misconception, but adds literary value and assists the flow of reading. The paper has a proportionate amount of scientific terms to refer to scientifically explainable mechanisms and components, thus general terms in non-relevant areas will not mislead the readers in any way.  

 

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Round 2

Reviewer 2 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

It is not clear what is a benefit of this contribution. The abstract (with no changes) says: “an overview has been drafted compiling extant literature on the topic”. It means that a series of papers were cumulated in this review. However, in this case, one should expect a critical view on the hitherto published results not just their cumulation. Otherwise, then a contribution of this manuscript is rather unclear.

The manuscript is not well-structured and an orientation is really difficult. If one reads your manuscript carefully, then it is possible to say -on average- that one sentence from one paper is followed by another sentence from another paper, etc. What is a sense of these individual sentences? The examples:

l. 254

“More study is required to improve the stability of Vitamin C in cosmetic products (Wang et al., 2018).”

l. 149

“Research aiming to manufacture an eco-friendly Palmyra pulp toothpaste was conducted successfully by surveying 12 product versions with variable amounts of Carboxymethyl Cellulose, turmeric powder and citric acid (Arunan et al., 2023).”

l. 213

“Checking all parameters, two final versions of the eco-friendly Palmyra pulp toothpaste were chosen through sensory evaluation (Arunan et al., 2023).”

The same citation on the same topic is separated by 60 lines!

The problem is -as I already pointed out in my preceding review- that just cumulation of the individual sentences from the individual papers is of a very limited value.

The question is: What is a real contribution of this manuscript apart from cumulation of sentences from various sources? Cumulation is fine, but it is necessary to continue with inputs processing.

Author Response

Comment 1: It is not clear what is a benefit of this contribution. The abstract (with no changes) says: “an overview has been drafted compiling extant literature on the topic”. It means that a series of papers were cumulated in this review. However, in this case, one should expect a critical view on the hitherto published results not just their cumulation. Otherwise, then a contribution of this manuscript is rather unclear.

The manuscript is not well-structured and an orientation is really difficult. If one reads your manuscript carefully, then it is possible to say -on average- that one sentence from one paper is followed by another sentence from another paper, etc. What is a sense of these individual sentences?

Response 1: To resolve the issue of not including critical views in addition to the references, the paper has been revised so as to add several sections covering inferences of the findings.

Although references are mostly placed one after another, they make sense with respect to each other. For example, after establishing the presence of a particular molecule in the species, the molecule’s uses in cosmetic or dermatologic products were placed to suggest that the species has potential as a raw material.

The current revision strengthens the correlations by commenting on the suggestions made by their placement.

Comment 2: The examples:

1. 254

“More study is required to improve the stability of Vitamin C in cosmetic products (Wang et al., 2018).”

1. 149

“Research aiming to manufacture an eco-friendly Palmyra pulp toothpaste was conducted successfully by surveying 12 product versions with variable amounts of Carboxymethyl Cellulose, turmeric powder and citric acid (Arunan et al., 2023).”

1. 213

“Checking all parameters, two final versions of the eco-friendly Palmyra pulp toothpaste were chosen through sensory evaluation (Arunan et al., 2023).”

The same citation on the same topic is separated by 60 lines!

The problem is -as I already pointed out in my preceding review- that just cumulation of the individual sentences from the individual papers is of a very limited value.

The question is: What is a real contribution of this manuscript apart from cumulation of sentences from various sources? Cumulation is fine, but it is necessary to continue with inputs processing.

Response 2: The mentioned ‘same citation on the same topic’ was placed apart to fit the requirements of respective sections. Among them, the first section narrated the preparation of the product while the next section covered the in vivo reactions of the same product. Arranging in this way aided the coherence of the paper. To further justify the arrangement, unreferenced inputs have been added as mentioned in response 1. 

 

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Reviewer 3 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

The author needs to improve the introduction more.

Comments on the Quality of English Language

minor corrections are required.

Author Response

Comment 1: The author needs to improve the introduction more.

Response 1: Certain sentences were omitted to minimise distractions and new additions were made to make the introduction more reflective of the paper’s objectives.

Author Response File: Author Response.docx

Reviewer 4 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

This is a much improved manuscript after inclusion of the highlighted sections of text.

There are two related errors: The citation at Line 92 to (B. et al, 2017) is incorrect mainly because reference #7 has been incorrectly formatted and should be "Vijaya B et al" not "B, Vijaya et al".  There may be similar errors that I have not noticed.

Comments on the Quality of English Language

Most language points relate to minor wording choices and should be checked editorially

Author Response

Comment 1: There are two related errors: The citation at Line 92 to (B. et al, 2017) is incorrect mainly because reference #7 has been incorrectly formatted and should be "Vijaya B et al" not "B, Vijaya et al".  There may be similar errors that I have not noticed.

Response 1: The cited reference has been corrected (https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/ESTIMATION-OF-VITAMINS%2C-MINERALS-AND-AMINO-ACIDS-IN-Vijayakumari-Kiranmayi/4bc17564b9fab5e581cc330d3b5c5997883c8da3). The entire manuscript has been skimmed again to rectify similar errors.

Author Response File: Author Response.docx

Round 3

Reviewer 2 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

In this version the authors provide a better justification of the individual trends studied in the presented topic. It improved the overall approach.