There are some pretty strange ingredients in cosmetics and skin care products. An example is snail mucin – also known as snail slime – which is used for its moisturizing and antioxidant properties. But researchers report in ACS Omega maybe found something even stranger to put on your face: molecules made by fish gut bacteria. In cultured cells, the compounds had skin-brightening and anti-wrinkle properties, making them potential ingredients for your future skin care routine.
While fish intestines may seem like the very last place to look for cosmetic compounds, it’s not a far-fetched idea. Many important drugs have been found in bizarre places; penicillin’s known antibiotic properties were discovered after a failed experiment turned moldy. More recently, brain cancer drug candidate Marizomib was derived from microbes unearthed from marine sediments at the bottom of the ocean. Two potentially untapped sources of new compounds may be the gut microbes of sea bream and blackhead sea bream, fish found in the western Pacific Ocean. Although these microbes were first identified in 1992 and 2016 respectively, no research has been done on the compounds they make. So Hyo-Jong Lee and Chung Sub Kim wanted to see if these bacteria produce metabolites that could have cosmetic benefits.
The team identified 22 molecules made by the gut bacteria of sea bream and blackhead sea bream. They then evaluated each compound’s ability to inhibit tyrosinase and collagenase enzymes in laboratory-grown mouse cells. (Tyrosinase is involved in the production of melanin, which causes hyperpigmentation in aging skin. Collagenase breaks down the structural protein collagen, causing wrinkles.) Three molecules of the sea bream bacteria inhibited both enzymes best without damaging the cells, helping them offer promising anti-wrinkle treatments. and skin brightening agents for future cosmetic products.
The authors acknowledge funding from the Marine Biotechnology Program of the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries, the National Research Foundation of Korea, the Technology Development Program of the Ministry of Small and Medium Enterprises and Startups, Sungkyunkwan University, and the BK21 FOUR program of the Ministry of Education of Korea.
