Pierfrancesco Morganti
Campania University, Italy
Biography
At the moment my group is working on the possibility to use chitin Nanofibrils bound with polymer recovered from plant biomass to produce innovative cosmetics, food packagings and advanced medications. These researches are supported by EU projects. The first obtained results are very promising for the production of innovative products involving the nanobiotechnologies
Abstract
Nanotechnology and nano-based material represent a novel arena with interesting medical applications for safe and effective carriers and active ingredients to be used in cosmetic dermatology. Encompassing the use of particles smaller than 100 nm in size, it is possible to maintain, repair and control the human biological systems, interacting with the skin tissue at the molecular level. Thus, nanoparticles and poly-meric biomaterials have a significant impact in today's health care technology, because they can be used to modify the ingredient permeation, not only controlling cargo and release of the active ingredients, but modulating also their time of permanence at skin level. For these reasons, many lipid, polipeptide or polyglucoside-based nanostructured polymeric carriers have been developed for the advantages they have over the conventional systems. These polymeric systems, in fact, are retained in the Stratum Corneum, being able to improve the release of their active ingredients's cargo at the dif-ferent skin layers.Naturally, the release depends on the skin status and the physicochemical characteristics and properties of the ingredients, as well as of the carrier used.However, the selection of both nanocarrier and active ingredient have to take in consideration their skin friendly and environment friendly proper-ties.They, in fact, have to be safe and effective for the human skin and be made by green raw materials obtained, possibly, by waste and recycled by-products necessary to save the natural materials for the incoming genera-tions. These considerations, for example, are at the mainstay of the Chi-nese Ministry of Ecology and Environment' program launched, for exam-ple in Qingdao, which has offered market incentives to encourage people to separate waste.Elucidating the structure properties relationship of these innovative com-pounds is, therefore, essential for a successful biomimetic transferring of technology from nature to ingredients and active carriers to be used in Cosmetic Dermatology. On the use of natural biopolymers, such as chitin nanofibrils (CNs), obtained from nanocomposite matrix of crus-taceans.CNs are able not only to substitute the extracellular matrix (ECM), but have also antimicrobial, antioxidant, antiinflammatory and cicatriz-ing properties.Moreover, being CN a cationic polymer, it may bind negatively charged compounds, allowing to encapsulate other active ingredients such as hyaluronic acid (HA) or lignin LG).The obtained nanocapsules or nanos-pheres may be embedded into emulsions or tissues, serving as as a pro-tective coating from external environment aggressions as well as agent stimulating the cell proliferation (angiogenesis ). It is interesting to underline that the CN-tissues, having the same structure of ECM, may release the micro/nano particles, modulating, for example, the collagen fiber's synthesis and disposition. The reported anti-inflammatory activity seems due to the small dimension of the chitin crystals which, are able to modulate the inflammatory cascade, interfering with the activity of specific enzymes connected with the skin' redox balance.On the other hand it has been shown that chitin of medium size has a pro-inflammatory activity, while the high size crystals have not at all activity Finally it is to underline that CN-LG has shown both in vitro and in vivo to possess antioxidant and photo-protective activities, due probably to the polyphenol groups of nano-lignin, and the cicatrizing, antimicrobial and im-munoprotective activity of the cationic and -OH groups of chitin nanofib-rils, probably involved in key signaling pathways also. In any way, the combining activity of the two polymers gives a proven effi-cacy to this complex, which acts contemporary as carrier and active in-gredient.Moreover, the complex may be further functionalized by the en-trapment of different active ingredients embedded into its structure, giving the possibility to make innovative emulsions or tissues.This is also the aim of the EU PolyBioSkin research project.In conclusion, by the use of natural-nano-based polymers it is possible to realize interesting and new emul-sions and tissues to be used in the Cosmetic Dermatology field.By the use of these innovative products it seems possible not only to solve some patholgical diseases without the use of drugs, but also to ameliorate the skin appearance, reducing the number of fine Lines and wrinkles.Moreover, in accordance with the actual EU and China zero-waste campsigns, it will be possible to reduce the food and Plastic waste by a well-organized use of recycling materials to obtain natural and biodegradable ingredients, polymers and goods.Industrial recycling and a better mass me-dia P informations are retained necessary to induce people, to understanding the positivity of living green, indispensable, to save our Planet from the Environment disasters in lo view of all.The paper will report some Dermatological results obtained by the use of biodegradable nano-structured polymers.