Despite the traditional trial and error formulation approach, industries require more rational, time, and money-saving procedures to achieve functional and sensorial objectives. We developed a methodology based on rheology and texture analysis to outline the physical–mechanical properties of aqueous dispersions of acrylic polymers belonging to three different classes: carbomers, acryloyldimethyltaurate derivatives, and predispersed acrylic polymers. Statistical analyses evidenced a significant correlation between rheological and textural parameters: viscosity (η) correlates with firmness, while storage (G′) and loss (G″) moduli with adhesiveness, and stringiness. The results demonstrated that the combined approach of these two instrumental techniques is useful to discriminate each cosmetic raw material on the basis of their applicative specificities and to rationalize their use in personal care products obtaining a wide range of textural characteristics.

The natural cosmetics market is growing, in line with the interest of public opinion on environmental safety. The availability of polysaccharides for cosmetic use is very wide; each raw material has its own sensorial specificities and hardly matches the performance of synthetic polymers. We developed an instrumental protocol based on rheology and texture analysis to evaluate alternatives to acrylic polymers. The study has been carried out on a set of water dispersions prepared with different synthetic, semisynthetic, and natural polymers at different concentrations. Using statistical principal component analysis, three different clusters have been identified: group A includes polymers with a stringy viscoelastic behavior, group B includes polymers with low firmness and a weak-gel rheological pattern, and group C includes polymers which formed soft and elastic gels. This work showed that this instrumental approach is a powerful tool to comprehensively characterize new rheological modifiers and to forecast their contribution to the formulation based on their applicative features. Moreover, rheology and texture analysis turned out to be complementary tools useful to compare polymeric raw materials and to identify appropriate alternatives to synthetic ones in order to formulate green cosmetic products.

As public attention on sustainability is increasing, the use of polysaccharides as rheological modifiers in skin-care products is becoming the first choice. Polysaccharide associations can be used to increase the spreading properties of products and to optimize their sensorial profile. Since the choice of natural raw materials for cosmetics is wide, instrumental methodologies are useful for formulators to easily characterize the materials and to create mixtures with specific applicative properties. In this work, we performed rheological and texture analyses on samples formulated with binary and ternary associations of polysaccharides to investigate their structural and mechanical features as a function of the concentration ratios. The rheological measurements were conducted under continuous and oscillatory flow conditions using a rotational rheometer. An immersion/de-immersion test conducted with a texture analyzer allowed us to measure some textural parameters. Sclerotium gum and iota-carrageenan imparted high viscosity, elasticity, and firmness in the system; carob gum and pectin influenced the viscoelastic properties and determined high adhesiveness and cohesiveness. The results indicated that these natural polymers combined in appropriate ratios can provide a wide range of different textures and that the use of these two complementary techniques represents a valid pre-screening tool for the formulation of green products.

Creation of a tunable 3D model of rhabdomyosarcoma using a hyaluronic acid based hydrogel (scaffold) and ECM proteins (fibronectin and collagen).

Hyaluronic acid (HA), an excellent biomaterial with unique bio properties, is currently one of the most interesting polymers for many biomedical and cosmetic applications. However, several of its potential benefits are limited as it is rapidly degraded by hyaluronidase enzymes. To improve the half-life and consequently increase performance, native HA has been modified through cross-linking reactions with a natural and biocompatible amino acid, Ornithine, to overcome the potential toxicity commonly associated with traditional linkers. 2-chloro-dimethoxy-1,3,5-triazine/4-methylmorpholine (CDMT/NMM) was used as an activating agent. The new product (HA–Orn) was extensively characterized to confirm the chemical modification, and rheological analysis showed a gel-like profile. In vitro degradation experiments showed an improved resistance profile against enzymatic digestions. Furthermore, in vitro cytotoxicity studies were performed on lung cell lines (Calu-3 and H441), which showed no cytotoxicity.