Researchers at Northwestern University, in the United States, invented a cream based on synthetic melanin, capable of healing daily damage caused to the skin, such as exposure to the sun, environmental toxins or wounds. The results were published in Regenerative Medicine.
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Melanin is the pigment that provides color to the skin, eyes and hair of humans and animals. One of the functions of melanin is to protect the skin from aggression caused by sunlight, increasing color in response to sunlight, and eliminating free radicals in response to environmental pollution and exposure, responsible for the aging of the dermis and which can develop into cancer. .
Knowing these factors, scientists created a synthetic melanin, imitating the natural substance, which can be applied directly to the wound, accelerating healing, both topically and systematically. Furthermore, it can be used for both sunburns and chemical burns.
To work in this way, scientists created synthetic melanin nanoparticles, modifying their capacity to eliminate free radicals.
For the experiment, researchers used a chemical to cause blisters on a sample of human skin. The blisters appeared as a separation of the upper layers of skin from each other.
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After a few hours, they applied the cream to the affected area. In the first few days, the skin showed an immunological response, helping to recover enzymes capable of eliminating free radicals, and interrupting the production of inflammatory proteins.
With this, the body initiated a chain of immunological responses, considerably increasing cure rates.
In samples that did not receive synthetic melanin, the bubbles persisted.
“Synthetic melanin is capable of scavenging more radicals per gram compared to human melanin. like super melanin. It is biocompatible, degradable, non-toxic and transparent when rubbed onto the skin. In our studies, it acts as an efficient sponge, removing harmful factors and protecting the skin”, says co-author Nathan Gianneschi.
When synthetic melanin is applied to the skin, it remains on the surface and is not absorbed by the lower layers.
Initially, the researchers, who have been studying melanin for about a decade, intended to use the product as a sunscreen.
“It protected the skin and skin cells from damage. We then wondered whether synthetic melanin, which primarily functions to absorb radicals, could be applied topically after a skin injury and have a healing effect on the skin. It turns out that it works exactly that way,” said Gianneschi.
Kurt Lu, one of the corresponding authors of the study, believes that the cream could be used as a sunscreen enhancer, as well as a moisturizer, to repair the skin.
“You could put it on before going out in the sun and after sunbathing. In both cases, we demonstrated a reduction in skin damage and inflammation. You are protecting your skin and repairing it simultaneously. It’s an ongoing repair.”
The cream could also be used for blisters and open wounds.
The authors also discovered that, by applying the cream to a lesion and absorbing free radicals, the product also calmed the immune system.
The outer layer of mature skin cells, called the stratum corneum, makes contact with the epidermis, the layer that receives external signals and, by calming surface inflammation, the body can accelerate the healing process, instead of inflaming it.
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