Cyanobacterial metabolites as a source of sunscreens and moisturizers: a comparison with current synthetic compounds

Enigmatic Microalgae from Aeroterrestrial and Extreme Habitats in Cosmetics: The Potential of the Untapped Natural Sources

“…Algae from aeroterrestrial and extremophilic habitats are commonly exposed to oxidative stress and develop efficient protective systems against reactive oxygen species (ROS) and free radicals to protect the damage of biologically important macromolecules. In humans, the production of ROS, caused by the oxidative stress from the excessive skin exposure to UVR (consisting of two basic types-UV-A and UV-B rays), also can result in DNA damage despite the fact that skin cells have various protective mechanisms and strategies (such as antioxidants, DNA repair enzymes and stress signaling) [10]. Oxidative DNA damage and oxidative stress are known to result in wide range of pathological disorders and are associated with aging processes [32].…”

“…Additionally, due to the growing awareness about skin cancer enhanced by sun exposure [35] sun-protecting cosmetics represents an area of high demand [36]. Therefore, in the past decades, the importance of protection measures against skin damage increased with interest focused on the use of UV filters, incorporated in a wide range of personal care products including sunscreens, facial make-up and lip care products [10,37]. The most important aspect in the development of these new UV filters became safety for both humans and natural environment.…”

“…The most important aspect in the development of these new UV filters became safety for both humans and natural environment. This means that a sunscreen must be heat-and photo-stable, non-irritant, non-sensitizing and non-phototoxic, and also should not have adverse effects when introduced into aquatic habitats [10]. In this way, algal pure bioactive compounds or extracts, which can play the role of natural filter, thus improving and enhancing the skin barrier against the harmful effects of UVR, rapidly became essential in cosmetics [8,30,36,38].…”

“…Shinorin, together with porpyra-334 and mycosporine-glycine, was found in Anabaena doliolum and Scytonema javanicum, where they also had multiple roles of shields against UVR and ROS scavengers but also helped to thrive in high temperatures [80,97,117,118]. Specific MAAS were found in cyanoprokaryotes from desert soil crusts [10,119], and the presence of MAAs was determined in Arctic and Antarctic cyanoprokaryotic mats [120,121]. MAAs were also found in 13 genera of green aeroterrestrial algae from the class Trebouxiophyceae (phylum Chlorophyta): Apatococcus, Bracteacoccus, Chlorella, Coccomyxa, Elliptochloris, Myrmecia, Pabia, Prasiola, Prasiolopsis, Pseudochlorella, Pseudococcomyxa, Stichococcus and Trichophyllus and in three aeroterrestrial genera from the green class Klebsormidiophyceae (phylum Streptophyta): Klebsormidium, Hormidiella and Interfilum [14,61,[122][123][124][125][126][127][128].…”

“…The estimation of the biotechnological potential of MAAs on the background of the improvements and development of industrial-scale cultivation technologies shows that these natural metabolites have the potential to supplement or replace commercially available sunscreens [10,131,132].…”