New way to plant extracts

When the world changes, consumer habits change. This is a strong impetus for a sustainability-related trend that started a few years ago: buy locally. In cosmetics, active ingredients with strong efficacy often come from exaotic plants or from deep-sea organisms. But what if we could find new resources in local plants? Plant roots develop in a harsh environment, the soil, where they need to set in place defense mechanisms against pathogens and mechanical aggression. To do so, they produce secondary metabolism with strong biological activities. The power of root extracts has been known and used for centuries by traditional medicine to treat diseases and other health issues. Ginseng and liquorice are amongst the most famous. But all plant roots cannot be used to create powerful natural extracts. Firstly, because taking the roots means destroying the entire plant.

Secondly, because some roots require exa lot of care and patience to grow and mature, which can take several years. Also, using agricultural lands to cultivate large quantities of plants just to take their roots for cosmetic botanical supply is not sustainable. But with the rise of new cultivation processes, it is now possible to get root extracts with the respect for the lifecycle of the plant, and to discover new powers from local species.

New technology

The plant milking technology is the first of its kind in this area. Developed by a biotech company based in France, this patented process allows plant cultivation in aeroponic conditions. The roots grow out of the soil, where they are easily accessible. Therefore, it becomes possible to spray specific nutritional mediums over them to stimulate the synthesis of targeted secondary metabolites, and to cut them several times a year, without damaging the plant, and then letting them grow again for future harvests. The plants are cultivated in greenhouses, and the low water quantity needed for irrigation system, compared to conventional culture, is recycled to futher reduce its consumption. In addition, as all environmental parameters are controlled in the greenhouse, the quality of the extract remains stable whatever happens outside. The plant supply is protected from environmental conditions and the use of harmful chemicals is greatly limited. The plants are grown from seeds whose origins are known, and plant multiplication, aeroponic cultivation and extraction are done at the same location, all of this ensures a 100% madein-France extract.

More extracts

Thanks to this innovative technology, it becomes possible to produce extracts from tree roots, lika the white mulberry tree (Morus alba). This tree has been long known in Europe as it was used to feed silkworms. Interestingly, its roots contain prenylated flavonoids, molecules with strong anti- aging activities and higher affinity with cellular membranes than non-prenylated flavonoids. In nature, the concentration of these molecules is low, but the plant milking technology can increase it by +2,000%. With this specific process, white mulberry tree roots can be collected three times per year, and they can regrow naturally in between each harvest. The extract1 can modulate the expression of CCN-1, a protein that controls the balance between production and degradation of collagen. It also stimulates the expressions of COL3A1 and DCN, genes encoding for collagen III and decorin, major components of the extracellular matrix (ECM). By protecting the set of genes coding for key ECM components, called the matrisome, the extract roots the skin in youth, with clinically proven results as deep wrinkles are reduced by 16.6% in eight weeks. This technology was also applied to Luffa cylindrica, whose roots contain bryonolic acid. Usually found as traces, the stimulation makes it possible to increase its concentration by ten times compared to conventional roots and to produce a special active ingredient². This active boosts different steps of the biological processes leading to energy (ATP) and metabolites production in cells: metabolic pathways (glycolysis, PPP pathway and TCA cycle), bioenergetic functions (respiration and ATP production), and metabolites and proteins transport to useful location within the cell. In aged skin, the bioenergetic resources available for overall cellular metabolic functions are not sufficient. This results in time-related alterations affecting the production of type IV collagen, a structural element of the skin that ensures the dermal-epidermal cohesion. It also threatens the elastic fibres that are essential for the resistance and firmness of the skin. Thanks to the increase in energy production, the matrix core elements, such as collagen IV and elastic fibres, are increased to preserve skin elasticity and firmness. By refueling the skin cells with energy, the active strongly improved elasticity (+27%), firmness (+20%) and tonicity (+21%) after 62 days on volunteers with lack of skin firmness. 

References

^1. Prenylium

^2. Rootness Energize