Snow algae powder is a novel anti-ageing ingredient based on an extract of biotechnologically produced snow algae. In cell culture assays, the snow algae extract was found to induce a calorie restriction-mimetic effect by stimulating the expression of the Klotho gene and the activity of the AMPK protein.
The extract reduced the loss in collagen expression in aged fibroblasts and counteracted the increase in matrix metalloproteinases in senescent fibroblasts. In clinical studies, the snow algae powder was shown to improve the papillary structure of the dermal epidermal junction, significantly enhanced skin hydration and smoothed crow’s feet wrinkles.
In summer, persisting snow fields on high mountains are sometimes tinged with a red, pink colour (Fig. 1). This phenomenon is caused by snow algae. These are unicellular members of green algae that changed colour by producing carotenoids for protection against the high ultraviolet (UV) radiation. Snow algae are a species adapted to survive the extreme conditions of alpine and polar snow fields. The resting algae containing high amounts of astaxanthin carotenoids are deposited when the snow melts and stay there during the winter under the newly formed snow layer. In spring when the snow partially melts at around 0°C, the red algae change into green organisms that move with the aid of flagella to the surface of the snow layer. There sunlight causes photosynthetic metabolism resulting in a short reproduction period. In summer, when the UV radiation is too high, the algae revert to the immobile, carotenoid-containing resting forms.
A tube photobioreactor (air-lift mode) was developed to produce snow algae raw material from a Chlamydocapsa species (Fig. 2). In a first stage, optimal light and aeration was used to grow the green algae for three weeks doing photosynthesis in order to reach biomass. In a second stage, nutrients were reduced and light strongly increased over two weeks to induce the formation of carotenoids and thus the red coloured resting form. Snow algae harvested at this stage were homogenised at 1200 bar in a phospholipid solution to disrupt the cells and to form liposomes with encapsulated water- and oil-soluble algae actives (snow algae extract; INCI: Chlamydocapsa sp. – 101 Extract). The liposomal extract was carefully coated onto maltodextrin in a spray granulation process (snow algae powder; INCI: Chlamydocapsa sp. – 101 Extract, Maltodextrin, Lecithin, Water).
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