A unique material inspired by a pigment in the skin of octopus, squid and cuttlefish has been harnessed to boost the skin-protecting active ingredients in sunscreen, as well as providing a shield against skin damage. And while it comes with all the benefits to humans, including antioxidant properties, it's harmless to the environment, which could revolutionize not just sun protection but skincare in general.
Years in the making, Xanthochrome is the creation of Northwestern University chemistry scientists Leila Deravi and Camille Martin, who realized they were onto a good thing early on in their research and formed the sea-inspired biotech company Seaspire. A new study has now confirmed its efficacy across a broad range of applications, as they approach the finish line after years of research.
What is Xanthochrome exactly? In physical form it's a brown powder, but the science behind it is much more interesting. It's the synthesized version of xanthommatin, an important pigment (or ommochrome) molecule found in the skin of cephalopods such as octopuses, as well as insects. Xanthommatin is also a key antioxidant, as detailed in a 2019 paper on the jumbo squid (Dosidicus gigas). The pigment molecules are a crucial bioactive component of the cephalopod makeup, and they also house a chromophore region that controls light wavelength absorption and, ultimately, what color the surface will be perceived as. (Not to be confused with chromatophores, the pigment-producing cells that work with muscles in the animals' camouflaging abilities.)
“The secret to the cephalopods’ unique coloration is derived from its multifunctional chemical compounds, which we identified in our lab at Northeastern,” said Deravi, Seaspire’s scientific adviser and an associate professor of chemistry and chemical biology at Northeastern. “Camille’s PhD work was the first to show that these small molecules inside cephalopod skin that contribute to camouflage in the animal also have really interesting antioxidant properties.
“They’re free radical scavengers, which are very important for skin health and skin barrier function,” she said, adding that until they looked into it, no-one had looked into xanthommatin's supreme ultraviolet-light-protective properties. “They also have pretty important optical properties protecting against exposure to sunlight, which is the main function of some UV filters and sunscreens."
And this is where their adaptation for human skin protection comes in. In the latest study, the scientists shows how a synthesized version of xanthommatin can significantly boost sunscreen protection levels when blended with zinc oxide, without having any negative impact on marine life such as corals or to humans.
“[There are] a lot of toxicities involved with (traditional) UV filters in sunscreens,” said Deravi. “Some of the chemical UV-filters in particular are known to create reactive oxygen species that are not only bad for the environment but can also seep into our skin and cause systemic toxicities."
From their work, the scientists formulated Xanthochrome, which has been found to level-up zinc oxide's ultraviolet protection by 28%, and boosts the blocking potential of visible light by 45%. When tested on coral samples at five times the amount needed in a sunscreen, it had no negative impact. The study also demonstrated that Xanthochrome, which in its raw form appears as a brown, textured powder, protects skin from photoaging and can even restore skin quality that's been sun damaged. The team see this bio-inspired product as a real next-generation ingredient that can be added to other formulas and act as an effective booster to mineral-based sunscreens.
“We didn’t create a new molecule,” Martin said. “We were able to isolate and characterize the properties of the biomolecules found within cephalopods, engineer a bio-identical version of the naturally occurring material and position Xanthochrome as a new active ingredient that provides a wide range of skin-care benefits.”
In 2022, Seaspire raised US$4 million in investor funding for research and development, which Martin and Deravi say they're at the finish line of. Now their aim is to form new partnerships to get Xanthochrome from the lab to market, aiming not just for a standalone product but to be a key ingredient for other manufacturers.
“We’re creating products that can really be applied and adopted across a wide range of users,” Martin said. “We are creating something that is not only safe for all people, but also the environment.”
“It’s a really interesting space where you have a single molecule that can have so many functions," Deravi added. “You have to prove the new raw materials are safe for humans and also for the ocean, where ultimately every product is going to get washed into."
The scientists had earlier developed a patch, using the same biotechnology, to measure the wearer's sun exposure. Xanthommatin has also piqued the interests of scientists working on color-changing paints and other materials.
The research was published in the International Journal of Cosmetic Science, and you can see where it all began for the Northeastern team, in this video from 2019.
Source: Northeastern University
