The impact of increasing age on body odor has become an important issue as our understanding of underlying skin changes in older people has increased. Therefore, cosmetic skin products especially for the needs of the elderly are of growing importance. This randomized single-blind crossover study assessed the deodorizing efficacy of two cosmetic products with different pH values on the age-specific odor of an elderly female subject panel (≥60 years). The two test products, adjusted to pH 4.0 and pH 5.8 were applied to the axillae once daily for three consecutive days after standardized washing of the axillae. The untreated axilla was used as a control. Six odor judges evaluated the efficacy of both products. Additionally, bactericidal and fungicidal activity was investigated with in vitro microbiologic tests. The pH 4.0 water in oil (W/O) emulsion significantly reduced axillary malodor in 44 elderly subjects at 8 and 24 h after treatment, compared with controls (untreated axillae) (p < 0.001 after 8 and 24 h), whereas pH 5.8 emulsion had no effect (p = 0.441 after 8 h; p = 0.425 after 24 h). Moreover, the pH 4.0 emulsion reduced axillary malodor at 8 and 24 h after treatment, compared with the pH 5.8 emulsion just narrowly missing statistical significance (p = 0.078 after 8 h; p = 0.053 after 24 h). Microbiologic in vitro tests showed that the pH 4.0 emulsion reduced the levels of odor-producing bacteria S. epidermidis and C. minutissimum after 1 h (2.98 log and 4.25 log). After 24 h, levels of S. aureus (>5.50 log), P. acnes (>5.30 log) and E. coli (>5.46 log) were further reduced whereas no effect was observed for pH 5.8. A pH 4.0 emulsion significantly reduced axillary malodor for up to 24 h after application in females aged at least 60 years. This reduction in malodor is very likely due to a reduction of odor-producing bacteria. Full article

A promising strategy for maintaining a healthy and youthful phenotype during aging is that of mild stress-induced beneficial hormesis. The basis of hormesis lies in the molecular pathways of stress response, which are essential for the survival of a biological system by activation of maintenance and repair mechanisms in response to stress. Moderate physical exercise is the best example of a hormetin that brings about a wide range of health beneficial hormesis by first challenging the system. Similarly, other natural and synthetic hormetins can be incorporated in cosmeceutical formulations, and can help achieve benefits including maintenance of the skin structure and function. Several polyphenols, flavonoids and other components from spices, algae and other sources are potential hormetins that may act via hormesis. Stress response pathways that can be analyzed for screening potential hormetins for use in cosmetics and cosmeceuticals include heat shock response, autophagy, DNA damage response, sirtuin response, inflammatory response and oxidative stress response. Full article

Irritant and allergic contact dermatitis are undesired side effects in the development of drugs and cosmetics as well as after contact with environmental or industrial chemicals. Over the last decades, a great deal of progress has been made in the development of alternative In vitro test to assess these issues. Driven by the 7th Amendment to the European Cosmetic Directive, the EU policy on chemicals (the registration, evaluation, authorization and restriction of chemicals (REACH) system), the update of the European legislation on the protection of animals used in research, and emerging visions and strategies for predicting toxicity, in vitro methods are likely to play a major role in the near future. On 12 December 2013, the European Union Reference Laboratory for Alternatives to Animal Testing (EURL ECVAM, part of the European Commission Joint Research Centre) published its Recommendation on the Direct Peptide Reactivity Assay (DPRA) for skin sensitization, capable of distinguishing sensitizers from non-sensitizers. Other assays (i.e., KeratinoSens™ assay) will follow shortly. While a number of methods are at various stages of development and use, currently it is not possible to rank chemicals for their sensitizing potency, an issue that is important for a full safety assessment. It is expected that a predictive method to totally replace animal testing will be in the form of a test battery comprising molecular, cell-based, and/or computational methods, the so-called “Integrated Approaches to Testing and Assessment”. This review aims to discuss the state-of-the-art in the field of in vitro assessment of contact sensitizers. Full article