Miraculous Liquid Crystal Bionic Ceramides, Mind-blowingly Effective Applications

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“Whatever your beauty goals, healthy, balanced skin is a constant pursuit.”

Ceramides, which make up 40-50% of the intercellular lipids in the stratum corneum of human skin, are the “guardians of the outermost 0.2mm of the skin”.

Ceramide has two hydrophobic chains in its structure: a long chain base (LCB), also known as sphingomyelin, and a fatty acid (FA) chain, in which the amino group of the LCB and the carboxyl group of the FA are linked by an amide bond.

In recent years, as the demand for skincare has increased, the skincare ingredient industry has gradually moved in the direction of personalization and efficiency. 2014, the American Journal of Dermatology (JAAD) confirmed that ceramides are a beneficial ingredient for skin barrier repair and have good moisturizing function, and the application of ceramides in cosmetics has become more and more widespread.

This “skin-derived, skin-repairing” ingredient is also in line with the current popular concept of “back-to-basics” skincare.

However, the effective application of ceramides in skin care products has always been an industry challenge, especially how to efficiently and stably apply ceramides, which faces many challenges:

Poor solubility: Ceramides are insoluble in water and oil, which makes it difficult for them to be effectively absorbed by the skin. Traditional water-based formulations are unable to effectively dissolve and disperse ceramides, thus reducing their actual efficacy.
Easily crystallized: Ceramides crystallize easily, resulting in unstable product texture, which affects its appearance and experience, and also weakens the effectiveness of ceramides.
Low bioavailability: Ceramides are difficult to penetrate into the deeper layers of the skin, resulting in low bioavailability, which prevents them from giving full play to their skincare functions. Traditional emulsification technology is difficult to overcome this problem, which reduces the effectiveness of ceramides in actual use.

Traditional skincare ingredient solutions also have some dilemmas in releasing ceramides for effective application:

Solubilizers: Solubilizers can be used to improve the solubility of ceramides in water, but these chemicals can cause skin irritation, compromising product safety and user experience.
Hybrid emulsification: Some formulations use hybrid emulsification to emulsify ceramides with other oil-based ingredients, but this approach typically only improves short-term stability and does not address the root causes of ceramides' tendency to crystallize and their low bioavailability.

Therefore, traditional solutions have major limitations in improving the solubility, stability and bioavailability of ceramides, making it difficult to meet the requirements of modern skincare products for high efficiency, safety and stability.

Liquid crystal emulsification technology, directly hit the pain point of ceramide application

In recent years, a kind of technology that we are not “strangers” has provided new ideas for ceramide application - liquid crystal emulsification technology.

In fact, in 1888, the Austrian scientist Relinitzer found liquid crystal phenomenon when heated cholesterol benzyl ester crystals, and then the German scientist Lehmann conducted further research to put forward the concept of liquid crystal [1].

Liquid crystal structure is similar to the liquid of easy mobility and continuity, but also similar to the anisotropy of the crystal, forming an intermediate state with some of the properties of crystals and liquids [2]. Due to its excellent stability, relaxation, moisturization, and even skin feel, the layered liquid crystal structure at the oil-water interface is similar to the structure of the human stratum corneum, and is known as “Second Skin” [3].

[5]图来源：华理液晶

Therefore, interspersing ceramides in the liquid crystal layer improves the water dispersion of ceramides and facilitates the application, and avoids the crystallization of their molecular aggregation, which improves the stability and bioavailability. The surfactants are oriented and arranged at the oil-water interface of the emulsion to form a long-range ordered and short-range disordered liquid crystal structure (lamellar liquid crystal) [6].

As a new type of carrier system for skin care products, the special “oil/liquid crystal/water” structure of layered liquid crystals has shown excellent performance in improving the stability, moisturization, and safety of cosmetic products such as emulsions, creams, and pastes. However, most of the current research on layered liquid crystal cosmetics stays in the preparation of emulsion matrix, and it is innovative to add natural functional active ingredients (e.g., ceramides, etc.) to layered liquid crystals for the research of liquid crystal functional cosmetics [4].

In 2024, the latest patent (Application No. CN 202410609982.8) of Chongqing Zhihe Bio-pharmaceutical Co., Ltd (hereinafter referred to as Zhihe Bio) - “an efficacious liquid crystal emulsifier and its preparation method and application”.

In this efficacious liquid crystal emulsifier, the accessibility area of ceramide increases significantly, the order of ceramide molecules decreases, and the degree of aggregation decreases; phospholipids hardly affect the interaction between ceramide and water, and phospholipids improve the degree of dispersion of ceramide, inhibit its crystallization, and improve the degree of bioavailability. The prepared emulsion combines the advantages of liquid crystal emulsion and the efficacy of ceramide, and has been verified by skin permeability experiments to have good skin permeability and to be able to pass through the stratum corneum.

We also launched Cellimide™ LC Liquid Crystal Bionic Ceramide, a product that takes ceramide application to a new level through liquid crystal emulsion technology:

Improved Water Dispersion: 

Cellimide™ LC utilizes a unique liquid crystal emulsification technology that embeds ceramides in a liquid crystal layer, allowing them to be evenly and stably dispersed in water. This technology significantly improves the water dispersibility of ceramides, making them more readily absorbed by the skin and thus enhancing skin care results.
 

Avoid crystallization precipitation: 

Liquid crystal emulsification technology effectively inhibits ceramide crystallization by forming a stable liquid crystal layer. Compared with traditional emulsifiers, Jiffy Crystal Cellimide™ LC is able to maintain the stability of the product under different storage conditions, prolonging the shelf life of the product and enhancing the user experience.
 

Improved Bioavailability: 

The liquid crystal emulsification system of JiffyCrystal Cellimide™ LC is able to disperse ceramides evenly in the product, improving its absorption and bioavailability on the skin. This enables ceramides to better perform their moisturizing, repairing and skin barrier functioning roles, providing more significant skin care effects.

The layered liquid crystal structure of the oil-water interface is similar to the structure of the human stratum corneum, which functions like a healthy stratum corneum. As a breakthrough ceramide application technology product, Jiffy Crystal Cellimide™ LC can significantly enhance the activity and efficacy of ceramides, providing a comprehensive skincare solution.

Underlying Technology Advantage: Unlocking the Full Potential of Ceramide Application

The breakthrough in the field of ceramide application needs to be built on the bottom-chain self-research capability and production advantages. As early as 2020, Zhihe Bio was the first one in China to realize the mass production and sales of phytosphingosine and ceramide raw powder, and through technological research, it has realized the self-production of the whole series of fatty acid chains on a production scale, which has provided a strong support for the efficient production and application of ceramide later on.

At present, Zhihe has already realized the commercial production of all bottom-chain P series products, meanwhile, it is making every effort to develop S and DS series products, and at the beginning of July 2024, it will make a breakthrough to realize the laboratory development and sample preparation of ceramide NS, AS and NDS (which has been filed as NG in the catalog of used cosmetic products) in China.

Opening a new chapter of ceramide skin care application

Prof. Shang Yazhuo, Chief Application Technology Scientist of Zhihe Bio, Professor and Doctoral Supervisor of East China University of Science and Technology, also said at the 2024 Ringier PCT Frontier Development Forum of Dermatological Science on May 17, 2024, “Liquid crystal emulsification system has a broad application prospect in the field of biomedicine and cosmetics, with the advantages of high dermatological safety, excellent stability, and remarkable effectiveness .”

Zhihe Bio will also rely on its unique advantages in the fields of strain development, liquid crystal emulsification technology and lipid carrier technology to successfully solve a series of problems in the application of traditional ceramides, marking the entry of ceramide application technology into a completely new era.

In the future, Zhihe Bio will continue to make progress in the development and industrialization of international first-class ceramide and other active compounds through in-depth research in the fields of synthetic biology, cosmetic application technology and pharmaceutical technology development, and will uphold the spirit of independent innovation to promote the continuous progress of the effective application of ceramides, and to provide more efficient and stable technical solutions for the skincare industry.

参考文献：

[1] 王良御，廖松生．液晶化学[M]．北京：科学出版社，1998：132-160.

[2] J. W. Goodby, P. J. Collings, T. Kato,C. Tschierske, H. F. Gleeson, and P. Raynes.．Handbook of Liquid Crystals: 8 Volume Set, Second Edition. 2014 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA. 2014

[3] 贾兵，张婉萍，陈明华.液晶结构及其在化妆品中的应用研究进展[J].日用化学品科学，2015，38(12):21-26.

[4] 张毅，陈微，韩艳琪，孙倩雯，高越，叶军，王洪亮，高丽丽，刘玉玲*，杨艳芳*. 层状液晶乳化技术包载天然活性物质用于功能化妆品的研究进展[J]，Acta Pharmaceutica Sinica（药学学报）， 2024，59(2): 350−358.

[5] 图片来源：华理液晶

[6] Zhou M, Shu P, Feng B, et al. Properties of lecithin liquid crystal emulsion [J]. Chin J Appl Chem (应用化学), 2018, 35: 1227-1233.