Marine Bioactives for Functional Cosmetics with Health-Promoting Properties

Dear Colleagues,

Inflammation, photo-degradation, oxidative stress, and ageing are common features of several skin complications. Several cosmetics, nutricosmetics, cosmeceuticals ,and sunscreens/sun-oils have been proposed to provide anti-inflammatory, photo-protective, antioxidant, anti-melanoma, and anti-ageing skin protection, including products that contain natural bioactives with skin-health-promoting effects.

The objective of this Special Issue is to promote research in the field that will outline the current status and future perspectives on the valorization of marine bioactives from sustainable marine sources (including marine bioactives from fish species, mollusks, seaweeds, macro-/micro-algae, fungi, and several other marine microorganisms) and marine by-products, to highlight their importance as ingredients for the design and production of high-value, bio-functional cosmetics’ products, including nutricosmetics, cosmeceuticals, sunscreens/sun-oils, and pharmaceutical cosmetics with promising anti-inflammatory, photo-protective, antioxidant, anti-melanoma, and anti-ageing skin-health-promoting effects.

Emphasis will be given to research with state-of-the-art methods of isolation and molecular analysis applied to several sustainable marine sources for obtaining/extracting and fractionating such marine micro-/macro- bioactives from prime extracts/mixtures/filtrates/isolates/hydrolysates/etc. derived from a sustainable marine source. We also welcome research on OMICS-based full chemical characterization and structural elucidation, in tandem with designed and tailored bioassays and in vitro/ex vivo/in vivo approaches, to evaluate the structure–activity relationship and potential synergism(s) against specific bio-molecular pathways and cell/tissue biological responses for skin health. Such experimental design and derived data are of paramount importance to assess structure–activity and causality, which will provide molecular evidence for the utilization of the most optimum bio-functional marine bioactives or their mixtures to produce targeted bio-functional cosmetics with skin-health-promoting effects, based also on current legislations and according to the needs of the industry and consumers.

Studies containing such targeted biomolecular experiments accompanied by appropriately designed approaches for evaluating the clinical safety and efficacy of cosmetics containing such marine bioactives, through tandem animal studies, ex vitro studies in animal tissues, and trials, are also welcomed. Special attention will be given to studies on such sustainable marine bioactives with higher safety, efficacy, and bioavailability in the skin for skin protection.

Finally, relatively comprehensive reviews, systematic reviews, and meta-analysis articles in the field are also welcomed in this Special Issue.

Dr. Alexandros Tsoupras
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-anonymized peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Marine Drugs is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2900 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.