Take you to know Ectoine

Ectoine, the filing name of tetrahydromethylpyrimidine carboxylic acid, has been listed in the 《Catalogue of Used Cosmetic Raw Materials (2021 Edition)》, is an important osmotic pressure compensation solute commonly found in halophilic bacteria, Ectoin was first isolated by Galinski in 1985 from Extreme Halophilic exothiospira in a salt lake in Egypt's Wadi Natrun Desert, It is the special environment of high temperature, dryness, high osmotic pressure and strong UV irradiation of desert salt lakes that makes the outer layer of cells produce this natural protective ingredient.

Today, with the development of modern industrial microbial technology, Ectoine has entered the era of commercial production. Its research work has led to its application in enzyme preparation, biomedicine and cosmetics, especially in the field of cosmetics.  It is favored by many cosmetic companies because of its anti-aging, anti-UV, anti-oxidation, moisturizing and anti-inflammation potential

After 2019, as the term of the PCT international patent "Use of Ectoine or Ectoine Derivatives" applied by German Merck in 1999 has expired, major domestic manufacturers began to rapidly pour into this market, and the opening of the market also means more fierce competition, and it means that the price of Ectoine is gradually rationalized. As many big brands have added Ectoine to their products, major local brands in China have also set off a boom in Ectoine, and the market popularity remains high. So why can Ectoine stand out from many cosmetic raw materials and be favored by major cosmetics manufacturers?

Excellent water molecule association ability - isolates the irritant

Ectoine is a cyclized amino acid derivative, its cyclic structure has strong electronegativity, good hydrophilicity, can make water molecules around it directional arrangement, change the spatial arrangement of water molecules, but also can organize the surrounding amino acid derivatives, around the cell to form a stable hydrated shell, can maintain osmotic balance, reduce the excessive evaporation of water in the inner cell, equivalent to adding a protective shield outside the cell, to increase the cell's ability to resist shock, to ensure the normal operation of the molecules in the cell.

Protects Langerhans cells – increases cellular immunity

Ectoine can effectively protect Langerhans cells (Langerhans cells are important immune cells of the skin, located between the keratinocytes on the surface of the skin, which can protect the skin against microorganisms, ultraviolet rays, allergens, etc.) from external stimuli. bitopAG data shows that 0.5% Ectoine can protect the Langerhans cells of UV-irradiated skin from damage.

Repairs UV damage – keeps skin looking young

The damage of ultraviolet rays to the skin mainly lies in the long-term exposure to ultraviolet rays that will lead to pigmentation, causing sunburn, redness, allergies, itching, and easy to lead to skin pigmentation; Secondly, long-term ultraviolet radiation can also lead to skin aging, skin loss of elasticity, looseness and roughness, and accelerated skin aging. Human immortalized epidermal keratinocytes HaCaT were irradiated with a certain dose of UVA and UVB, and different concentrations of ectoine were added after irradiation, and whether it had a repair effect on ultraviolet radiation damage was explored by investigating the level of cell proliferation. The test results showed that ectoine could significantly repair cell damage caused by UV, 0.5% ectoine could restore cell activity to 89.2%, and 2% ectoine could restore 98.7%, which could almost eliminate the damage caused by UV to cells.

Improves skin's ability to retain moisture – skin is hydrated and radiant

In general, adults lose about 240-480 mL of water per day from the surface of the skin, but if the stratum corneum of the skin is severely damaged, the loss of water can increase to 10 times that of the common situation. Ectoin molecules are small and easily soluble in water, which can quickly spread into the cell, promote the aggregation of water molecules, and reduce the proportion of free water. The cyclized structure of the ectoine molecule densely distributes its surface charges to form a hydrophilic electron cloud, so ectoine has excellent water-binding ability.

Inhibits the release of anti-inflammatory factors – anti-inflammatory soothing and stabilizing

Tumor Necrosis Factor-α α (TNF-α) is a pro-inflammatory cytokine that participates in normal inflammatory and immune responses, is mainly produced by activated monocytes and macrophages, and functions in vivo in two forms: Transmembrane TNF-α (tmTNF) and secreted TNF-α (sTNF). tmTNF is distributed in the form of membrane proteins on TNF-α-secreting cells, and sTNF is produced after TACE (TNF-α-converting enzyme) enzyme activation and cleavage. TNFα receptors are divided into two types (TNFRI. and TNFRII.), which exist on a variety of cell surfaces, and the binding of TNFα to TNFR usually causes apoptosis, inflammation and tumorigenesis. LPS was used to stimulate the expression of TNF-α in cultured supernatants, and the inhibitory effect of ectoine on the release of inflammatory factors was investigated. The test showed that ectoine has a good inhibitory effect on the pro-inflammatory factor TNF-α in the concentration range of 0.5%-2.0%, so it can reduce the damage of inflammation to the skin.

Improves wrinkle levels – hides signs of age

The years bring not only gray hair but also eye print, the appearance of eye print proves that you have entered the aging echelon. To prove whether ectoine has a wrinkle removal effect, the researchers recruited subjects aged 45 to 60 years to apply placebo and 0.5% ectoine cream around the eyes twice daily for 28 days.

Experimental data proved that the wrinkles after the use of 0.5% ectoine cream were negative in depth and volume roughness, indicating that wrinkles had a certain improvement effect, while the wrinkles using placebo cream showed positive values, which shows that ectoine can effectively improve the skin surface condition and has obvious wrinkle removal effect.

To sum up, after the expiration of the original patent, Ectoine seems to have become an indispensable ingredient for high-end cosmetics, and its corresponding products are increasingly appearing in the market, from the State Food and Drug Administration website can be queried, since 2019, there have been more than 400 domestic products related to the product name of "Ectoine", and the addition of "tetrahydromethylpyrimidine carboxylic acid" as raw material products are numerous, I believe that in the future, Ectoine will definitely bring more and more surprises to the entire cosmetics market.