Wide application of glutathione in the field of whitening and freckle removal

 

With the improvement of modern living standards, people pay more and more attention to the external image, and increase their self-confidence in various activities and occasions with a beautiful image. The image shows people's pursuit of high-end life.

Therefore, whitening cosmetics have always been pursued by people, and their market share is very large. Whitening cosmetics have developed from physical covering and whitening to physical and chemical peeling, to interfering and blocking the normal metabolism of melanin, to "synergistic effect" whitening.

Skin color is determined by the amount and type of melanin synthesized by melanocytes and the pattern of its distribution around keratinocytes. Melanocytes are small cells in humans whose main function is to synthesize pigment and form and distribute pigmentation. Melanin is formed through a series of oxidative reactions. Based on human skin structure and melanin formation pathways, modern whitening cosmetics can function by inhibiting the formation and deposition of melanin and pheomelanin, mainly by inhibiting the proliferation of melanocytes and inhibiting the formation of melanin. Tyrosinase, dopa tautomerase and DHICA oxidase activities during the process.

Recent studies have shown that glutathione derivatives have skin lightening properties and enhance skin penetration and transdermal absorption, thereby improving skin tone and condition. At the same time, it accelerates cuticle exfoliation to avoid hyperpigmentation.

Take melasma as an example. Chloasma is a common chronic, acquired hyperpigmentation skin disease with an incidence of up to 30% in Asian women of childbearing age. Chloasma is caused by a variety of factors, including sun exposure, sex hormones and genetics. susceptibility, etc., most of the intermediate processes are accompanied by tyrosinase.

Recent studies have shown that tyrosinase, as a key enzyme affecting melanin synthesis, is the only rate-limiting enzyme in melanin synthesis. In addition to the active function of melanocytes in skin lesions, which increases pigment, recent studies have shown that: the occurrence of melasma It is also involved in basement membrane zone disruption, photoaging, oxidative stress, keratinocytes, mast cells, abnormal gene regulation, inflammatory response, neovascularization, skin barrier damage, etc.

Traditional treatments for melasma mainly target pigmentation, including oral and topical drugs, chemical peels, and phototherapy, but the results are uneven. Topical treatment is the first-line treatment for chloasma, but the long-term use of commonly used hydroquinone, resorcinol, etc. may have permanent depigmentation and potential carcinogenic risk; fruit acid treatment is effective for active and sensitive skin. Not suitable for patients with freckles; inappropriate photoelectric therapy is one of the important reasons for the recurrence of chloasma. With the in-depth research on the etiology and pathogenesis of chloasma, freckle-removing and whitening skin care products are constantly being updated.

Glutathione is a common antioxidant peptide that enhances human immune function. A variety of drugs combined with glutathione have achieved good results in the treatment of melasma. Yang Yapeng et al. used tranexamic acid combined with glutathione to treat melasma and found that the combination of the two not only exerted the antioxidant function of glutathione, but also further inhibited the inhibition of tyrosinase by tranexamic acid. The formation of melanin, enhance the freckle effect, promote the subsidence and lightening of melasma.

Ling Xiaohong used glutathione and vitamin C in combination, aiming at the shortcomings of traditional vitamin C, such as unstable efficacy and insignificant improvement of sex hormones, and found that the combination of the two has obvious effect, fewer clinical side effects, and can further improve progesterone and estrogen levels. .

▲Inhibition rate of GSH combined with VitC on tyrosinase

The combination of laser and traditional Chinese medicine with glutathione also has obvious effect in clinical treatment of chloasma. Zhang Wenjuan et al. used reduced glutathione combined with asiaticoside ointment to treat chloasma, and the effective rate reached 88.37%, and no serious adverse reactions were found in all patients.

In the process of melanin synthesis, in the presence of cysteine or glutathione, the precursor of melanin, dopaquinone, reacts with it to eventually generate phenylalanine instead of darker melanin, increasing intracellular The content of glutathione is beneficial to reduce the production of melanin. At the same time, it combines with free radicals through active sulfhydryl groups, scavenges oxidative free radicals such as NO, and reduces the accumulation of melanin caused by the increase of ROS. In addition, its competitive binding of copper ions to tyrosinase leads to enzyme inactivation and reduces melanin synthesis.

*Special note - This article is for informational purposes only and cannot replace a doctor's treatment diagnosis and advice. It should not be regarded as a recommendation or proof of efficacy of the medical products involved. If it involves disease diagnosis, treatment, and rehabilitation, please be sure to go to a professional medical institution to seek professional advice.