An Advanced Oil Composition Containing Stabilized Retinol With Enhanced Bioactivity Using Neocitrate

We have previously developed a proprietary retinol oil formulation that delivers improvements in facial wrinkles as early as 1 week, as well as sustained improvements in cutaneous skin parameters that address the needs of subjects with signs of skin aging and photodamage. The objective of this study was to demonstrate anti-aging performance of this enhanced formulation at a molecular level. Leveraging Neocitrate as a proven collagen-boosting peptide, we sought to demonstrate that (1) its combination with retinol oil was compatible with retinol’s mechanism of action by confirming retinol-induced stimulation of antiaging biomarkers and that, (2) the combination leads to an increased collagen production vs retinol alone. To this end, the bioactivity, compatibility, and collagen production of retinol oil and neocitrate in combination were evaluated. Gene expression and histology analysis were performed using human skin explants. Bioactivity results indicated that the ingredient combination significantly induced (*P ˂ .05) heparin-binding EGF-like growth factor, cellular retinoic-acid binding protein-2 and hyaluronan synthase-3, associated with antiaging benefits. Furthermore, to test whether the combination resulted in increased dermal matrix production, we evaluated collagen production using histological stains. Quantitation of the collagen histological staining results revealed that the combination of retinol oil and neocitrate resulted in significantly more collagen production (*P ˂ .05) than either ingredient alone. Thus, the skin’s collagen production capacity can be increased by combining two antiaging ingredients. These results demonstrated that retinol and neocitrate in combination result in significant induction of antiaging biomarkers with this enhanced formulation.