Unlocking more potential: COSSMA

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Although currently in great demand in cosmetics, Cannabidiol is quite chemically unstable. A study about effectiveness while embedded in capsules seems promising. Here are the results.

Different actives are nowadays available for oily skin treatment, but most of them just work either on sebum production, or inflammation or have antibacterial or anti-mycotic activity. Cannabidiol (CBD) can both regulate sebum production and exhibit anti-inflammatory activity. Unfortunately, it is a highly lipophilic molecule and suffers of chemical instability, undergoing oxidation. Because of this, it is important to use appropriate vehicles for unlocking CBD potential. Activys capsules have been selected among the delivery system platforms available for encapsulating the active ingredient and granting its dispersion in water-based formulae as well as protecting it from premature oxidation. More in details, these are lipid-based capsules, made of polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs). Because of their composition, they are more flexible than conventional capsules, resulting in improved penetration. Furthermore, a unique feature is that it is an active-per-se capsule; upon penetration, the capsule is metabolized and CBD is released.

fig 1: Oil-red assay (A) non-treated sebocytes; (B) sebocytes treated with 20 microM arachnoid acid; (C) sebocytes treated with 20 microM

arachnoid acid and 0.02% of CBD oil balance.

Sebum control

The ability of CBD in combination with capsules to inhibit excessive sebum production has been demonstrated by oil-red assay. For this study, there was used arachnoids acid as lipogenesis enhancer. Figure 1A refers to not treated sebocytes (control), figure 1B refers to sebocytes treated with arachnoids acid (20 microM) and figure 1C refers to sebocytes treated with arachnoids acid (20 microM) and CBD oil balance at 0.02%. Lipids are stained by oil red. When sebocytes are treated, lipogenesis induced by arachnoids acid is dramatically inhibited. A semi-quantitative analysis has been also performed: The combination of actives is able to reduce the induced lipogenesis by a 33%.

Anti-inflammatory ability

As discussed above, activys capsule has the unique feature to be active-per-se. It shows anti-inflammatory activity, and enhances CBD activity. In order to assess this, we have performed gene expression analysis, targeting specific genes involved in the inflammatory process. The study has been performed using human keratinocytes (HaCaT) as skin cell model and human follicle dermal papilla cells (HFDPC) as scalp cell model. The capsules have displayed significant anti-inflammatory effects both on HaCaT and on HFDPC, by reducing the inflammation of a 40% average.

Microflora balancing

We have also checked, if CBD oil balance is able to balance skin microflora, by the determination of the minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) for three microorganisms typically associated with oily skin: S. Aureus, M. Globosa y M. Restricta. In this study, we compare the efficacy of the combination of CBD with activys capsules vs. free CBD.The comparison has been made by working at the same concentration, so CBD oil balance has been used in the range 2%-0.005% (2% is the recommended dose of the product), while free CBD has been used in the range 0.002%-0.000005% (CBD oil balance contains 0.1% of CBD). The minimum bactericidal concentration (MBC) of the two products has been also evaluated. The results are reported in table 1.

Interestingly, free CBD is not effective in the range of the studied concentrations, while when encapsulated it is able to balance the microflora, by preventing the proliferation of the studied microorganisms (MICs< 2%), without killing them all (MBC>2%).

Sebum-control in-vivo

The potential as sebum-regulator has been evaluated both in skin and scalp and measured by Sebumeter. The study has been performed on 20 volunteers (18-70 years, male and female, oily skin/scalp) for four weeks. Ten volunteers have been applying both CBD oil balance 2% gel on face and 2% lotion on the scalp twice a day; conversely the other ten volunteers have been applying the placebo formulae.

The level of sebum (quantified as lipid index) on skin and scalp have been measured at D0= 0 day and D28=28 days. Both on skin and scalp, has shown excellent performances. In particular, CBD oil balance is able to reduce the sebum by a 29% in the case of scalp and by a 35% in the case of skin. Results indicate that the treatment at 2% for four weeks, significantly reduced area, number and mean size of sebaceous glands (by 44.8%, compared to Placebo).

Conclusion

CBD oil balance has shown to be a well multitasking active for the treatment of oily skin. The encapsulation of CBD in activys capsules has unlocked CBD potential for oily skin: the capsules confer water-dispersibility and stability to CBD and they work in synergy, by enhancing its activity and providing extra anti-inflammatory activity.