Antiphotoaging and Photoprotective Compounds from Marine Organisms

Dear Colleagues,

In recent decades, anthropogenic pressure has been increasing worldwide, leading to urgent environmental concerns, such as global warming and the progressive thinning of the ozone layer. Prolonged exposure to UVA (320–400 nm) and UVB (280–320 nm) radiation may result in acute and/or chronic effects on the skin and, in general, on human health. UVA rays in particular reach the Earth’s surface and can penetrate into the dermal skin layers, where they are responsible for skin photo-ageing and photo-carcinogenesis, mainly through the production of reactive oxygen species.

Marine organisms have evolved a plethora of molecular strategies to protect themselves from the harmful effects of UV radiation, producing UV-absorbing compounds such as scytonemins in cyanobacteria, mycosporines, mycosporine-like amino acids, carotenoids in microalgae, and melanin in marine invertebrates. These compounds offer great potential for the development of novel UV filters in sunscreen products or in antiaging creams aimed to reduce photo-oxidative damage. Recent investigations have shown that some traditional UV filters and other ingredients (e.g., preservatives and antioxidants) might have toxic effects both on humans and marine life. This evidence has stimulated new research on alternative and eco-friendly photo-protective compounds from marine organisms.

Therefore, faced with consumers increased inclination to seek natural cosmetics, manufacturers must seek new active ingredients of natural origin in order to meet this demand, which embraces a broad area in terms of moisturizing, lightening, anti-free radical, anti-wrinkle, and UV-protective compounds.

In this Special Issue, researchers are invited to provide recent and innovative results on different aspects related to the discovery and biological activity of marine-derived photo-protective and anti-aging compounds, their functional and ecological role, and their potential applications as active ingredients in health and beauty care products that are both effective and meet consumer expectations of tomorrow's cosmetics.

Dr. Immacolata Castellano
Dr. Elisabetta Damiani
Dr. Céline Couteau
Guest Editors

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.