240 Lactobacillus crispatus probiotic for skin antiaging benefits

Abstract

We previously showed that significantly lower populations of Lactobacilli were observed in a cohort of aged donors with no Lactobacillus crispatus (LBC) detectable in the wrinkle hollows. The aim of our study was to demonstrate LBC efficacy in vitro, then to design a formula to maintain an efficient delivery of LBC living probiotic to show significant antiaging clinical results. The LBC was isolated from healthy skin and checked by full genome sequencing. After optimized growth a part of the biomass was kept alive and freeze-dried (109 colony forming units/g (cfu/g), whereas the other part was heat killed. The effect on the synthesis of collagen type I and V was evaluated on fibroblast by DELFIA method. We first tested the viability of the LBC with several formulating ingredients up to 24h. Some formulations were then evaluated up to 168 days at different temperatures. One formulation was used to deliver the probiotic strain on 29 Caucasian women (45-65 years old). The dermis density was measured after 3 and 8 weeks by ultrasound imaging coupled to image analysis, and wrinkle were analyzed by VISIA CR imaging. The probiotic stimulated collagen I and V content versus untreated (+133% and +55%) whereas inactivated bacteria were inefficient. In formulation, the probiotic strain was viable and stable in some natural oil-based emollients for several weeks, but for only up few hours in some emulsifiers and mild preservatives. Thus, we designed an application routine for the clinical test in which an oily serum of concentrated probiotic booster was diluted before application in a neutral emulsion to deliver 5 105 cfu/g on the skin. After 2 months of twice-daily application, the density of the sub-epidermal zone was significantly increased vs baseline by 11% and of the dermis by 6% (+5% vs placebo). The same tendency was obtained for forehead wrinkle thickness improvement. We demonstrated the benefits of skin native LBC living probiotic bacteria compared to inactivated biomass to stimulate collagen in vitro. Moreover, the LBC was stable in some formulations and improved dermis density and wrinkle appearance in vivo.