The basic purpose of cosmetics containing biologically active ingredients is to develope the formulation technologies that stabilize active compounds in the molecular level in skin and to deliver effective materials selectively to the skin. One of suc...
The basic purpose of cosmetics containing biologically active ingredients is to develope the formulation technologies that stabilize active compounds in the molecular level in skin and to deliver effective materials selectively to the skin. One of such formulation technologies is to use liposome, as a substance delivery system. The characteristic of the structure is, first, its similarity with the bi-layer structure of phospholipid components, which are the compounds of biological membrane. Second, when a water-soluble efficacious element, which has a high affinity with the cell membrane of the human body, is entrapped in a water-soluble space inside liposome, the liposome has an affinity for cell membrane the effective efficacy infiltrates into cells. Third, when a fat-soluble compound infiltrates into phospholipid membrane it can move through cell membrane as cell membrane has an affinity for liposome, and as a result efficacious substance can be delivered to cell membrane or to cells regardless of the affinity of the efficacious substance with the cells. Fourth, a fatty aggregate has the nature of amphiphilic medium that have both hydrophile polar groups and lipophile non-polar groups, and with such a structural characteristic, it forms micelle and a fatty double layer. The structural similarity between liposome and the biological membrane-structured fat is closely related with liposome formulation that is utilized in delivering efficacious compounds in cosmetics into the skin. With the rapid increase of functional cosmetics for whitening, wrinkle prevention, anti-aging, etc. such liposome has been spotlighted as a medium to deliver various biologically active natural compounds in cosmetics, which are high unstable in light, heat and water, to the skin in a relatively stable way, and is used in diverse ways in technologies for formulating functional cosmetics that are purposed to carry biologically active unstable natural active compounds into the skin.
Of course, the physical and chemical properties of liposome vary according to several variables such as the kind, compounds, constitution and composition method of phospholipid. When applying it to the skin, therefore, it is necessary to improve technologies related to liposome and analyze diverse variables involved in manufacturing liposome in order to identify situations that impair the stability of liposome and explain them accurately. However, considering the current trend of cosmetics that moves toward naturalism, we expect the development of technologies for formulating emulsions that can be applied to the skin in a small quantity, taking into account biological compatibility, skin safety, environmental influence, etc. and further research on the skin concerning its biological action and absorption of efficacious compounds and how to formulate much improved liposome by adopting nano science as well as electronic technologies.