Shiseido wins research accolades for anti-ageing discoveries

Japanese personal care powerhouse, Shiseido, wins first and second place prizes for the company’s research papers at the 12th China Cosmetics Academic Research Conference held in June.

Anti-ageing, make up and fragrance leaders, Shiseido, took home prizes for a total of three research papers at China Association of Fragrance Flavour and Cosmetic Industries (CAFFCI)’s Academic Research Conferences in Guangdong, China.

Taking place between 26th-28th June 2018, Shiseido took home the first and second prizes from a total of 84 entries submitted in 2018. The awards focus on celebrated research in the cosmetics industry and advanced technological progress in China’s industry, in particular.

Held every two years, Shiseido has now received six first prizes at the Chinese conference, where the company plans to continue its focus on its China-exclusive brand Aupres and global brands including Shiseido and Clé de Peau Beauté.  

The host of the event, China Association of Fragrance Flavour and Cosmetic Industries (CAFFCI), is made up of a collection of individuals, institutions and organisations that centre on essences, fragrances and cosmetics ingredients. R&D efforts, packaging, design, education, equipment/devices and other related cosmetics product activities are key areas of interest at the event.

Anti-ageing and wrinkles

On 27th June 2018, Yusuke Hara from Shiseido’s Research Centre was awarded the first prize at the ceremony for research into ‘New insight into the development of anti-ageing skincare cosmetics focusing on the primary causes of wrinkles’.

The research project centred on the areas of the skin that are “prone to wrinkling undergo a high degree of motion during facial expressions; therefore, skin motion may be an essential factor in wrinkle formation”.

Shiseido’s research centre confirmed a wrinkle volume increase occurs immediately after facial expressions. Known as residual wrinkles, these resulting wrinkles and the mechanically deteriorated stratum corneum (SC) was hailed as primarily responsible for residual wrinkle formation.

Shiseido found that the SC hydration-dehydration process can be used to repair deteriorated SC. Skin care product ingredients or formulations can then be used to control and repair SC.   

Previous studies have revealed that polyoxyethylene/polyoxypropylen dimethyl ether (EPDME) enhances the SC hydration-dehydration process. It transpired from these efforts that EPDME concealed the emergence of residual wrinkles by retaining a moderate amount of moisture in the stratum corneum and repairing the formed residual wrinkles.

These research results highlight that anti-ageing skin care cosmetics are developing and evolving.

“I am very honoured to receive such a prestigious prize,” Shiseido Research Centre’s Yusuke Hara emphasised, before commenting: “There are still a lot of mechanisms and phenomena in our skin that have not yet been clarified. So I would like to pursue research that creates new value, helping consumers to become and stay more beautiful by clarifying those unknown facts.”

Sweat gland shrinkage

In addition, Shiseido won second prize accolades for two research papers. The first of these, titled ‘Development of breakthrough anti-ageing skin care – Discovery of a critical skin-ageing mechanism caused by sweat gland shrinkage: dermal cavitation’ by Shiseido Research Centre’s Tomonobu Ezure explored the cause of age-related skin sagging.

To examine what leads to this, Shiseido created a new micro-computed tomography method to visualise internal skin structures. Looking at from a three-dimensional perspective, the scientists identified how multiple defects contain adipose tissues, often called dermal cavitation, in the deep dermal layer of aged skin.

The research found that cavitation significantly reduces skin elasticity and promotes sagging Closely linking age-induced cavitation with atrophic sweat glands, sweat glands shrink in an upwards direction as we age. This also leads to dermal layer cavities, which lead to skin sagging.

Shiseido found that rosemary extract improves this cavitation as it appeals to adipose tissue-derived stem cells (ADSCs) and activates dermal tissues, thus leading to a three-dimensional dermal structure.

Lymphatic Function

Kentaro Kajiya from Shiseido Research Centre completed a presentation of ‘A novel mechanism of cutaneous ageing mediated by the impairment of lymphatic function and the protective role of a lymphatic-promoting compound.

Noting how few studies have centred on the functions of lymphatic vessels in skin-ageing, Shiseido stated that:

  1. Lymphatic vessels are functionally hyper-permeable in aged skin, deteriorating its function of collecting waste products and excess water
  2. Sagging skin shows increased subcutaneous adipocyte accumulation and looser, hyper-permeable lymphatic vessel structure
  3. Fatty acids in the lymph promote hyper-permeability of lymphatic vessels, leading to the increase of adipocyte accumulation

In a research first, Shiseido found that age-dependent down-regulation of Tie2 activation has an important impact on lymphatic vessel stabalisation, and that cinnamon extract launches the Tie2 receptor, creating lymphatic vessel stabilisation and concentrating on subcutaneous adipocyte accumulation.