BOTANICAL EXTRACTS

ORIGIN OF BOTANICAL EXTRACTS

- Botanical extracts have been used for centuries and are present in today’s products either for
their own properties or as substitute of animal materials that may have to be removed from
products because pressure of animal rights associations or diseases like bovine spongiform
encephalopathy (BSE).
- There are plant powders for hair coloring (Henne), scrubs (apricot kernel, corn), or masks (oat
flour); plant extracts (‘‘as is’’ or purified); and biotechnology extracts obtained through
fermentation, cloning, soilless culture (aquaculture, artificial media, etc.), which are developed
from microorganisms, plant organs, total plants, or through the use of specific enzymes

EXTRACTION PROCESS

Total Extracts

- Total extracts are most common in the cosmetics industry, rarely, if ever, used in drugs
- Modern techniques include:
(a) pressing—for plants rich in water (e.g., juice, fresh plants, fruits, vegetables, cactus) or oil;
(b) percolation, with one solvent or a mixture of solvents (water, glycols, ethanol) at room
temperature or at elevated temperature (this process is the same as the one used to obtain
coffee); and
(c) maceration, with the same type of solvents (this process is the same as the one used to
obtain tea).
- These processes allow for better controls: stability, preservation, manufacturing
reproducibility.

Selective Extracts

- Special extraction processes or the use of specific solvents will lead to the obtention of a specific
class of molecules.
- The use of vegetable oils as solvent allows for the extraction of oil-soluble vitamins or lipids.
More recently the use of supercritic CO2 has been developed to extract aroms, essential oils,
and oleoresins.

Purification

- Extract purification to separate specific molecules from others are done following classic
physicochemical processes—cryoprecipitation, column chromatography, electrophoresis, use of
selective solvents and salts

USAGE

- Extracts or purified botanical molecules can be incorporated directly into solutions, emulsions,
or vectors or can be used to form a vector (liposomes, phytosomes, phytospheres).
- They can be topically applied, ingested, or injected, depending on the intended use and
provided absence of toxicity has been shown.
Topical Retinoids
RETINOL

- Vitamin A is a necessary dietary nutrient, required for growth and bone development, vision,
reproduction, and the integrity of mucosal and epithelial surfaces.
- Vitamin A deficiency results in visual problems, such as xerophthalmia and nyctalopia (night
blindness), hyperkeratosis of the skin, epithelial metaplasia of the mucous membranes, and
decreased resistance to infections.
- Vitamin A is fat soluble, and occurs as various stereoisomers.
- Retinol (vitamin A1) is present in esterified form in dairy products, meat, liver, kidney, and oily
saltwater fish.
- For clinical purposes, vitamin A is available as retinol (vitamin A alcohol) or esters of retinol
formed from edible fatty acids, primarily acetic and palmitica acid.
- Teratogenicity, well documented as the most serious side effect of oral retinoids, is logically the
potential concern with topical retinoids.
- With oral retinoids, most aromatic retinoids cross the placenta; in utero exposure results in limb
and craniofacial deformities, as well as cardiovascular and central nervous system abnormalities.
- Systemic absorption of topical retinoids, however, is thought to be negligible.
- A large retrospective study of birth defects in offspring born to mothers exposed to topical
tretinoin (all-trans-retinoic acid) during pregnancy has demonstrated no significant risk