Bui Hoai-Thuong Duc, Kim Su Ji, Jang Jihui, Lee Jun Bae, Yoo Hyuk Sang
Department of Biomedical Science, Kangwon National University, Chuncheon, Korea.
Innovation Lab, Cosmax R&I Center, Seongnam-si, Korea.
Int J Cosmet Sci. 2025 Aug;47(4):730-739. doi: 10.1111/ics.13080. Epub 2025 Jun 6.
Daily sunlight exposure impacts the structural integrity and chemical composition of hair in both reversible and permanent manners. Although keratin-based treatments have been popularly used to repair damaged hair, their effects in the recovery of the hair damage caused by UV light have not been well studied. Moreover, limitations related to keratin penetration depth and duration of effect persist. Encapsulating active ingredients in liposomes has been shown to enhance their stability, bioavailability and permeability. Thus, we aimed to design cationic liposomes encapsulated with keratin to enhance the recovery effects of photo-damaged hair.
We prepared keratin-incorporated cationic liposomes (KLs) via high-pressure homogenization and assessed their physical properties via hydrodynamic size, zeta potential, electron microscopy and X-ray diffraction analyses. The physical and chemical damage level of hair samples before and after treatment, such as hair smoothness, protein degradation and lipid peroxidation, were subsequently investigated using electron microscopy and different spectroscopies.
The results indicated that the cationic liposomes fabricated by high-pressure homogenization method had combined unilamellar and multilamellar structures. Compared with the keratin solution, the KL suspension significantly improved the permeation of keratin into the cortex during a 24-h incubation. Moreover, 24 and 48-h UV-exposed hairs showed enhanced recovery when incubated with keratin liposomes for 24 h, as evidenced by the observation of a smoother hair surface using electron microscopy. We observed that treatment with keratin liposomes significantly reduced protein denaturation and lipid peroxidation in the photo-damaged hairs.
We anticipate that cationic liposome-assisted keratin delivery may serve as an effective method for restoring photo-damaged hair in both the physical and chemical dimensions.
每日阳光照射会以可逆和不可逆的方式影响头发的结构完整性和化学成分。尽管基于角蛋白的处理方法已广泛用于修复受损头发，但其对紫外线引起的头发损伤恢复效果的研究尚不充分。此外，与角蛋白渗透深度和作用持续时间相关的局限性仍然存在。将活性成分包裹在脂质体中已被证明可提高其稳定性、生物利用度和渗透性。因此，我们旨在设计包裹角蛋白的阳离子脂质体，以增强光损伤头发的恢复效果。
我们通过高压均质法制备了掺入角蛋白的阳离子脂质体（KLs），并通过流体动力学尺寸、zeta电位、电子显微镜和X射线衍射分析评估了它们的物理性质。随后，使用电子显微镜和不同的光谱学方法研究了处理前后头发样本的物理和化学损伤水平，如头发光滑度、蛋白质降解和脂质过氧化。
结果表明，通过高压均质法制备的阳离子脂质体具有单层和多层结构。与角蛋白溶液相比，KL悬浮液在24小时孵育期间显著提高了角蛋白向皮质的渗透。此外，通过电子显微镜观察到头发表面更光滑，这证明在紫外线照射24小时和48小时的头发与角蛋白脂质体孵育24小时后，恢复效果增强。我们观察到，用角蛋白脂质体处理可显著降低光损伤头发中的蛋白质变性和脂质过氧化。
我们预计阳离子脂质体辅助的角蛋白递送可能成为一种在物理和化学层面恢复光损伤头发的有效方法。
