In recent years, the application research of liposomes in cosmetics has attracted great attention at home and abroad. There are two kinds of skin liposomes: the first one is to mix the lipids similar to skin keratinocytes to make "skin liposomes". It uses ceramide as the main component of skin intercellular substance to replace phospholipid, and combines ceramide with cholesterol, hexadecanol or Cholesterol sulfate was mixed to make artificial "skin lipid" liposome. The second is to directly extract ceramide, phospholipid and intercellular lipid with the same skin physiology from human embryonic skin cells, and form the physiological "skin lipid" liposome with the same lipid ratio as the skin Jiaowan cells. Both artificial liposomes and skin liposomes, as a new bioengineering technology, will bring new vitality to the cosmetics industry.
Since the launch of the first liposome containing cosmetics in France in 1987, liposome cosmetics have been attached great importance. So far, more than 100 new liposome containing cosmetics have been launched in Europe and the United States, such as dermosome, glycosomes, lipocutin, lipodermin, natipide, niosme, sphingoscme, etc., which are all the trade names used in liposome cosmetics. Famous cosmetics companies in the world, such as CHESEBROUGH pouds, Mary Kay, Lancme, EsteeLauder, L'Oreal, Prescriptives, etc., have invested a lot of human and financial resources, focused on the research and development of the application of liposomes in cosmetics, and constantly launched new liposome containing cosmetics to the market. Many cosmetics raw materials companies in the world have also continuously launched new liposomes to the market. Due to the unique performance and excellent effect of liposome cosmetics, although the price is expensive, (50 ml cosmetics containing liposome humectant produced by prescription, the price is $30), are still popular with consumers. In 1993, on the Chinese mainland's Cross Strait cosmetics technology symposium, Mr. Wang Li Zhong, Secretary General of the Chinese fragrance and flavor cosmetics industry association, said: "China's light industry authorities listed the development of cosmetics as the 85 plan. We should take science and technology as the guide, speed up the development of new products, adjust the product mix and raise the grade of products by relying on scientific and technological progress and industrial design. Many Chinese and foreign experts believe that the skin care market will develop to high-tech and multi-functional products, and high-tech cosmetics such as liposomes, microcapsules and liquid crystal biological nutrients will gradually occupy the market. Liposome containing cosmetics have become a hot spot.
What are lipids and liposomes? In pharmaceutical industry, liposome encapsulated drug microcapsules have been developed and applied for a long time. Lipids include a wide range of chemical components and structures, and their characteristics are mainly determined by the structural components of hydrocarbons that make up lipids. Lipids have a common characteristic, that is, they are insoluble in water, but easily soluble in non-polar solvents such as ether, chloroform and benzene. Lipids have the biological function of traditional Chinese medicine, which is an important component of biomembrane. Almost all phospholipids contained in cells are concentrated in biomembrane.
Liposome is a kind of small body which is encapsulated by lipid membrane. The membrane capsule of liposome is composed of lipids, mainly phospholipids and cholesterol. Phospholipids are polar chain molecules, one end is hydrophilic gene, the other end is hydrophobic (lipophilic) gene. Phospholipid and cholesterol together form a bilayer membrane. The hydrophilic genes of two-layer phospholipid molecules are on the surface and the hydrophobic genes are in the membrane. This kind of phospholipid bimolecular membrane structure is also the basic structure of human cell membrane. Because the composition and structure of liposome membrane and human thin membrane are similar, they are related.
So, why are liposomal cosmetics so important? This lies in the unique performance and excellent cosmetic effect of cosmetics containing liposomes. This kind of performance and effect comes from the special structure of liposome. Most cosmetics and pharmaceutical liposomes are composed of various natural, semi synthetic and synthetic phospholipids, mainly lecithin. A small part consists of cephalin, phosphatidylinositol and phosphatidylic acid. According to its fatty acid composition, it can be divided into unsaturated, partially hydrogenated and hydrogenated phospholipids.