About Zinc Pca
Make Sure To Read This Study On Zinc Pca & See Why It is
So Important For Having A Healthy Scalp and Healthy Skin
One of the
initial products that used zinc pca was for
sebum or oil
secretion suppression. The demand has been very strong
for stopping excess oil production both in the hair follicle and
the growing demand for a means to suppress sebum secretion to
help prevent skin issues and problems such as acne and rashes.
Zinc Pca is also used
for anti-aging effects of
the skin and scalp in all ages of adults.
Zinc Pca is one of the sought after
ingredients for scalp odor as well as body odor. It is
used lower body odor in
people of all ages that often suffer from body odor that cannot
be controlled easily by other means.
Zinc compounds have been
reported to be effective as sebum inhibitors, odor absorption as
well as anti aging and anti rash. Research has shown that Zinc
PCA does inhibit sebum as well as absorb odor from the body and
scalp. An unexpected result that research shows is that
zinc pca also inhibits AP-1 – a strong cause of collagenase
production, and remember that collagenase is responsible for the
appearance of skin wrinkles and aging in general.
In this study we demonstrate the effects of zinc PCA; namely,
sebum inhibition, inhibition of bacterial growth and suppression
of AP-1. .
What Exactly Is Zinc?
Zinc is is a trace element and vital - necessary for human
beings.
Here are dietary products that are rich in
zinc:
1) Fish
and shellfish are naturally rich in zinc. Zinc deficiency in
humans is unlikely to occur with a balanced diet. However, an
unbalanced diet is known to cause reproductive issues, skin
roughness, skin rashes, hair loss, hair thinning and more.
2) With regards to cosmetic and toiletry products, zinc is known
to form non-volatile salts that have tempered fatty acids and
the main point is that they exert antibacterial activity.
Zinc is also used as an ingredient of baby powders, shaving
powders, anhidrotic agents, creams and so on. Zinc pca is a
special form of zinc and should not be confused with just
general zinc even though many of the properties are the same.
Sebum inhibiting activity
Dihydrotestosterone (DHT), a modified version of of testosterone
that is converted by an enzyme that feeds off of scalp oils,
produced by the action of the enzyme 5 a-reductase, stimulates
sebaceous glands to produce and secrete sebum. Zinc inhibits 5
a-reductase activity which in turn reduces the amount of dht
that is formed in the scalp - very important for both men's and
women's hair loss or hair thinning due to dht. This would be
considered a dht blocker that can be in a serum or in a
dht
blocking shampoo.
Odor-Reduction or Odor Absorbing Activity
If zinc forms salts with short-chain fatty acids that cause
scalp or body odor, the characteristic smell or odor disappears.
In this connection, Zinc PCA, which is a zinc compound that
includes the fatty acids and ultimately the nonvolatile salts,
is expected to suppress body odor by forming nonvolatile salts
with short-chain fatty acids in the skin.
What is zinc PCA?
As described above, zinc inhibits sebum secretion and body odor.
However, the solubility of zinc salts is usually low, making it
difficult to add zinc compounds to cosmetics, and difficult for
the effects of zinc compounds to manifest. We paid close
attention to pyrrolidone carboxylic acid (PCA), which is an
organic acid, as a counter for the formation of zinc salts, and
evaluated its functions.
PCA is the predominant component of a Natural Moisturizing
Factor and is known to play important roles in hydration of the
skin and the scalp skin. PCA originates from glutamic acid found
abundantly in the living body.. Glutamic acid, which is
biosynthesised by hydrolysis of filaggrin (a protein) during the
course of skin keratinisation, is hydrolyzed and cyclised with
skin enzymes (g-glutamyl-AA synthetase and g-glutamyl
cyclotransferase),7 to yield PCA. Usually, PCA is found in the
skin in the form of salts (Na salt, K salt, etc.) and it is
abundantly contained in NMF.8 PCA, assuming the form of salt, is
known to serve as a moisturizer which keeps the skin soft and to
exert excellent conditioning effects on the hair and even the
scalp skin.
Characteristics
The following effects of zinc PCA have been confirmed in our
study:
Reduction of unwanted sebum both on the scalp, hair and in the
skin.
Inhibition of activator protein-1 production known for causing
appearance of wrinkles and aging.
In addition, effects on microorganisms were measured - bacteria
that causes acne, bumps, odor and much more.
Reduction of unwanted Sebum
Zinc PCA does so much for the scalp skin and body skin. There
are very visible results in the skin sebum level observed after
repeated applications to the skin. 1% Zinc PCA solution
has been shown to significantly decrease sebum levels on the
treated skin at week four, compared to initial value. A various
formula, treatment with water or zinc gluconate
does not result in any
significant difference to initial value. These proves that zinc
PCA can be expected to show a promising effect as cosmetic for
oily skin as well as skin and scalp odor.
Procedure
The subjects were asked to apply 1% zinc PCA solution, 1% zinc
gluconate and water to the one side of the face, morning and
evening, for four weeks. Secreted sebum was measured by
sebumeter measurements (SM 810 PC, Courage and Khazaka,
Electronic GmbH) and the measurement on the treated skin after
three hours and four weeks was expressed as a ration of the
initial value (before the treatment). All the subjects were
required to complete a 30-minute acclimation period in the
environmental chamber (22°C, 40% relative humidity), where all
sebum measurements were taken.
Results
By application of zinc PCA, a very significant decrease
of the oil or sebum content from the initial value was observed.
Inhibition of activator protein-1
Collagen, which is indispensable for keeping the skin tense and
to prevent wrinkle formation, is degraded by collagenase (an
enzyme that degrades collagen). Therefore, to suppress wrinkle
formation, it is necessary to suppress collagenase production.
It is known that activator protein-1 (AP-1 – a complex protein
composed of a few protein units, produced by stimuli such as UV
radiation) induces the production of collagenase by binding to
DNA in the cell nucleus. This means that AP-1 formation needs to
be suppressed to inhibit collagenase production (Fig. 7). We
therefore evaluated the effect of zinc PCA in suppressing the
production of AP-1. This experiment revealed that treatment with
even low levels of this substance suppressed c-FOS (an indicator
of AP-1 production) by about 70%. This result suggests that zinc
PCA can suppress wrinkle formation.
Mechanism of collagen degradation and wrinkle formation
Procedure
Zinc PCA was added to human fibroblasts and the cells were
irradiated with UVA. After the irradiation, the amount of c-FOS
(a component of AP-1) was determined.
Calculation method
A: zinc PCA (+), UVA irradiation (+) B: zinc PCA (-), UVA
irradiation (+) C: zinc PCA (-), UVA irradiation (-) c-FOS
Production inhibition (%) = {1-(A-C)/(B-C)} x 10.
Results.
Determining Minimum Inhibitory Concentration (microoragasim)
Procedure
Emulsion containing zinc PCA at several different levels of
concentrations was made and applied on culture plates. Each
organism suspended in culture medium was placed on the agar
plate. After incubation, the minimum inhibitory concentration
was examined and noted. MIC is the lowest concentration on
microorganisms where there is no visible growth of that micro
organism.
Information That
Matters: When we were searching for ingredients to make the very
best in scalp and skin purifying products we were led to zinc.
FACT: Zinc is the strongest natural fighter that is over 30% abundant
in your skin. Why so much zinc? Simple - zinc keeps the germs and bacteria out
of the skin to prevent infections and other germ related problems.
However while searching we found a derivative of zinc that seemed to pull out
the very best of the properties of zinc , making it a more effective form of
zinc. When we first added it to the shampoo the results were seen within days.
Zinc PCA
Continued
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