Aloe-moss extract is a new organic skincare ingredient set to dethrone hyaluronic acid as the epitome of hydration and youth. After all, who is better than a resilient little plant like aloe-moss, with high desiccation tolerance to improve skin moisture and battle skin aging? Try MossCellTecTM Aloe and say goodbye to dehydration.
MossCellTec™ Aloe is an extra pure aloe-moss extract sustainably obtained using MossCellTec™ technology. By enhancing intercellular communication, MossCellTec™ Aloe improves the skin barrier, harmonizing moisture distribution paired with a potent anti-wrinkle effect.
On top of being an ingredient with excellent performance, MossCellTec™ Aloe is COSMOS-approved. This ensures that consumers acquire organic and natural ingredients produced following strict sustainability practices.
Also, MossCellTec™ Aloe owns NATRUE certification, guaranteeing independent (third-party) certification for biodegradability, ingredient clarity and transparency. This is key to preventing greenwashing and promoting responsible and eco-friendly consumption.
So, when buying MossCellTec™ Aloe, it's like taking moss straight from the wilds, directly to your face, thanks to the most advanced biotechnology in the world. Innovation, functionality and biodegradability in one piece!
Mosses as Bioinspiration for Cosmetic Purposes
Mosses are avascular plants found in almost every climate, from the Arctic to the humid tropical forest. So, they have developed important genetic adaptations to survive and cope with extreme conditions, including dry land and frost.
Indeed, unlike seed plants, mosses don't have roots, so they must absorb water and nutrients from their environment directly into their leaves. On top of depending on environmental water availability, they also need the precious liquid for reproduction purposes.
So, mosses have important water retention mechanisms that are a great example of evolution and resilience, mainly because they can absorb water toxins or air pollutants, which has led them to be a huge source of antioxidants to fight the resultant oxidative stress.
As a matter of fact, mosses are recognized as a source of antioxidants and compounds such as terpenoids and flavonoids with important antimicrobial, anti-inflammatory, antifungal and antitumoral activities.
So, even though mosses are small-sized and seemingly simple in nature, they are chemically complex. Indeed, the wealth in mosses' genetics is opening the doors for producing biopharmaceuticals of cosmetic interest.
MossCellTecTM Aloe: An Innovative Biotechnology Moss-Based Ingredient
As exciting and resourceful as mosses may sound, they are incredibly difficult to harvest and cultivate on a large scale, under sterile conditions and sustainably.
Hence, MossCellTec™ technology uses top-notch metabolic engineering and biotech production strategies to cultivate sterile plant material, aka ethanol-sterilized spore capsules, relying on the asexual reproduction of mosses.
Using moss protonema, much like "stem cell moss culture", the cells divide repeatedly, and the technology disrupts the tissue, maintaining the protonema culture in a liquid form.
Then, this material is filtered and later subjected to a mild cold pressing extraction method to recollect water-soluble metabolites (minus the chlorophyll) with nutraceutical potential.
Using MossCellTec™, the first biotechnology-based moss ingredient from Physcomitrella patens was born. Then came the newer MossCellTec™ Aloe, based on Aloina aloides, also known as "common aloe-moss".
This tiny moss owes its name to the similarity in the appearance of its leaves to the Aloe vera plant. Aloina aloides is a small, reddish-dark green moss of about 2 – 5 mm in height, and its distinctive fleshy leaves stand up, forming a rosette.
MossCellTecTM Aloe Takes Intercellular Communication to the Next Level
In vitro studies show that aloe-moss extract improves intercellular communication through the so-called "gap junctions" between skin cells (keratinocytes) in the epidermis. This keeps skin homeostasis (stable equilibrium) between the different skin cells during differentiation and growth.
The gap junctions exist thanks to transmembrane proteins called connexins. They form channels between skin cell membranes (walls) and connect them like a huge network, using signaling molecules, such as calcium, to work as messengers.
Keeping that in mind, a higher density of connexins should improve cell-to-cell communication and allow a more synchronized and effective skin response.
In turn, this guarantees a healthy skin barrier and may revert premature aging signs. After all, connexins expression can be impaired as we get old.
To test if MossCellTec™ Aloe could improve intercellular communication through the gap junctions, the calcium release signal was studied in human keratinocytes.
During the protocol, keratinocytes treated with 0.25% aloe-moss extract for four days showed an enhanced velocity of the calcium signal propagation. Indeed, the final calcium signal was two-fold in cells treated with aloe-moss extract compared to placebo cells.
Moreover, glyoxal was added to the cells to simulate premature aging three days before the experiment. But, despite that, the calcium signal was not only restored but later enhanced by the aloe-moss extract.
These results clearly show that MossCellTec™ Aloe can improve intercellular communication in normal and aged skin cells alike.
MossCellTecTM Aloe Anti-Wrinkle Effect and Moisture Booster Properties
Considering MossCellTecTM Aloe action mechanism, this ingredient can prompt a coordinated skin response, improving moisture distribution.
During a placebo-controlled clinical protocol, a total of 43 Caucasian women between 37 and 65 years of age with visible signs of aging, applied a cream with 2 % of MossCellTec™ Aloe or a placebo cream on the face twice daily for 28 days.
Skin hydration levels were measured by mapping each patient's face at 53 key points. After 14 and 28 days of treatment, hydration levels of the whole face improved, and moisture evenness increased by 14 % and 20 %, respectively.
Additionally, to quantify MossCellTec™ Aloe anti-aging effect, skin elasticity and crow's feet wrinkles were evaluated. And when the protocol finished after four weeks, there was a reduction of wrinkle depth and volume by 8.2 and 13.1 %, respectively.
Applications and Formulation with MossCellTecTM Aloe
Using the INCI nomenclature, MossCellTec™ Aloe contains Xylitol, Caprylyl Glycol, Ketoglutaric Acid, and water.
This product can be easily incorporated as the primary component in moisturizing formulas, anti-aging creams, intensive face treatments and balancing skin care products.
When using MossCellTecTM Aloe, the recommended use level is up to 2%, and it should be dissolved into the aqueous phase first for cold processes. No matter the case (hot/cold processes), it should be added during the cooling phase below 40°C.
Nevertheless, MossCellTecTM Aloe is highly thermostable in temperatures up to 40°C for a short time.
MossCellTecTM Aloe certainly is at the tip of the iceberg in this new era of biotechnology applied to cosmetics. The use of mosses as green production platforms for natural and environmentally friendly anti-aging products is foreseen to increase in the next decade. So, embrace technology and nature, and prepare to give your skin a great dose of hydration with the help of MossCellTecTM Aloe!
