Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
CA 02823423 2013-06-28
=
Moisturizing Chinese herbal medicine composition, preparation
method and use thereof
Field of the invention
The present invention relates to cosmetic field, particularly to an extract of
Chinese herbal medicines, its preparation and its use in cosmetics, as well as
a
Chinese herbal medicine composition containing the extract of Chinese herbal
medicines having a moisturizing effect, its preparation and its use in
cosmetics.
Background of the invention
The skin is composed of epidermis, dermis and subcutaneous adipose tissue,
wherein each layer contains moisture. The key points for whether the skin is
young,
plump, shiny and soft depends on the moisture content presented in the skin.
The
moisture content in infant skin is high, so their skin appears to be fine,
young and
shiny. The moisture content in the old people is low, so the skin appears to
be dry and
wizened and is easy to be desquamated and even to have wrinkles.
Moisturizing is an eternal subject and an important condition, which ensures
the
skin healthy and postpones the skin aging. People keep trying to research and
develop a moisturizing composition with excellent performance.
On the one hand, with the increasing age, the moisturizing organization of the
skin is injured and the moisture content between the cells of the skin tissue
is
decreased. When the moisture content in the stratum corneum is decreased to
lower
than 10%, the skin will appear dried, elasticity lost, winkled and the skin
aging is
accelerated. On the other hand, the skin is injured by heat, cold, wind,
cleaning
agent and UV radiation and the top layer of the skin will become more dried.
Thus,
it is very important to retain the moisture of the skin and decrease the loss
of the
moisture. Currently, the moisturizing agents for the skin in the market mainly
include blocking agent, hygroscopic agent, hydrophilic matrix, anti-light
agent as well
as some special additives.
It is believed by the traditional medicine that the reason for the dried skin
lies in
CA 02823423 2013-06-28
lung and kidney dysfunction, water metabolism imbalance and the skin being not
moisturized by the body fluid. Therefore, the key to moisturizing skin is to
invigorate the lung, nourish the kidney and nourish the body fluid. There are
some
recitations for moisturizing and moistening skin in the references of
Traditional
Chinese Medicine, wherein Chinese medicine beauty formulation is recorded and
description from theory to practice is included. Recently there are some
descriptions
related to the effects of polysaccharide ingredients in current studies. The
perfect
combination of high water absorption and good film-forming property of the
polysaccharide enable it to achieve a very good moisturizing effect. Plant
polysaccharides are gradually applied to the skin moisturizing and
polysaccharides are
the main ingredients contained in most Chinese herbal medicines. All of these
bring
a bright future for us to find safe and efficient skin moisturizing agent.
Description of the invention
The technical problem to be solved by the present invention is to provide an
extract of Chinese herbal medicines having moisturizing effect.
To achieve the above object, the extract of Chinese herbal medicines according
to the present invention is an extract of Chinese herbal medicines by water
and/or
solvent of the starting materials composed of 20-50 parts by weight of
Asparagus
cochinchinensis, 20-50 parts by weight of dried rehmannia root, 10-40 parts by
weight
of Dendrobium nobile, and 10-40 parts by weight of Dioscorea opposita. Said
solvents are selected from methanol, ethanol, isopropanol, n-butanol, ethylene
glycol,
1,2-propanediol, 1,3-propanediol, 1,3-butylene glycol, acetone, ethyl acetate
or
combinations thereof.
Asparagus cochinchinensis is the root of Asparagus cochinchinensis (Lour,)
merr and is also named Asparagus. Asparagus cochinchinensis is plucked in the
autumn and winter, cleaned and stem and fibrous root are removed. Then it is
boiled
in water or steamed thoroughly. Then its cortex is removed under heat, washed
and
dried. The Asparagus cochinchinensis is mainly distributed in the south China,
southwest China and central China, Henan, Shandong and other provinces.
Asparagus cochinchinensis grows in highland, has white color, cleaning the
lung,
2
CA 02823423 2013-06-28
strengthening the kidney, nourishing Yin and moistening dryness, keeping the
beauty
and protecting the skin. Rehmannia root grows in fertile central plain, has
yellow
color and sweet taste. It has the healthy ingredients derived from the plain,
thick
texture, strong flavor and rich in grease and is a good tonic agent. The fresh
rehmannia root is the rehmannia root just plucked, has Yin property due to the
healthy
ingredients derived from the plain. As mentioned in "Herbal Notes" that "the
Asparagus cochinchinensis is an important medicine for tonifying kidney and an
excellent material for supplementing Yin". These two medicines, one for
increase
and another for decrease and one coming from the sky and another coming from
the
plain, contain essence of both Yin and Yang. Thus, "Compendium of Materia
Medica"
recorded that: mixing powder of Asparagus cochinchinensis and prepared
rehmannia
root to make honey bolus as big as marbles, dissolving three marbles with warm
wine
and eating three times daily, then living in the mountain and going on a long
journey
without eating grains. Body becomes light and eyes become bright after the
intake for
ten days. One can recover from hundreds of diseases and whose face likes a
flower
after the intake for twenty days. The white hair becomes black and the dropped
teeth
grow again after the intake for thirty days. One can run like a horse after
the intake
for fifty days and whose life is prolonged after the intake for one hundred
days. It is
sky-earth-soup. Because these two medicines can be asorbed into the lung and
kidney to supplement the lung fluid, nourish the kidney water, adjust the body
fluid
metabolism and make the skin and hair moist, so they can have tonic and
moisturizing
effects.
Rehmannia root refers to the medical part of root of plant rehmannia.
Rhhmannia
is the dried root of Scrophulariaceae plants Rehmannia glutinosa Libosch. It
is
plucked in autumn. Rehmannia root is cleaned from the rhizome, fibrous root
and silt,
then cooked slowly to about 80%. Rehmannia root is mainly distributed in
Liaoning,
Hebei, Henan, Shandong, Shanxi, Shaanxi, Gansu, Inner Mongolia, Jiangsu, Hubei
and other provinces.
Dendrobium nobile refers to the medical part of fresh or dried stem of plant
Dendrobium nobile. Dendrobium nobile is perennial epiphytic herb of Orchidales
Dendrobium and mainly distributed in Yunnan, Sichuan, Guizhou province of
China
and tropical area of Asia. It can be plucked in any time of the year and
preferably
3
CA 02823423 2013-06-28
4
plucked in autumn, dried in oven or dried under the sun, cut into pieces and
used in
the form of crude materials.
Dendrobium nobile: It is sweet in taste, a little cold in nature and
attributive to
the stomach and kidney meridians. It can tonify stomach and promote fluid,
nourish
Yin and clear heat, nourish lung and tonify kidney, and can be used for
treatment of
cloudy wound and dry mouth and tongue. "Sheng Nong's herbal classic" recites:
it
can tonify consumptive diseases of five internal organs and gain light weight
and
longevity. "Supplementary Records of Famous Physicians" recites: Dendrobium
nobile can increase the muscle, clear the evil heat and prickly heat of the
skin.
"Herbary" recites: The rounder and thinner Dendrobium nobile is the better,
and it is
essence-tonifying and Yin-strengthening, sinew-strengthening
and
deficiency-tonifying, foot and knee-invigorating, cold rigor-expelling,
palpitation-eliminating and mind-setting. Jiuren XU recites: Dendrobium
nobile's
function is to clear stomach and promote body fluid and it is very suitable
for the
people having stomach and kidney fever due to deficiency. If it is desired to
clear
stomach and save the body fluid, it is necessary to use Dendrobium nobile.
Modern
pharmacological studies show that, the effective ingredients in Dendrobium
nobile
include alkaloids, polysaccharides, trace elements, amino acids and the like.
The
extracts thereof have excellent moisture-retaining effect and can increase the
blood
flux of capillary. Furthermore, the extracts can increase the level of
superoxide
dismutase (SOD) significantly, thus decreasing lipid peroxides (LPO). From the
view point of adjusting the level of neurotransmitters of brain monoamine, the
extracts can have anti-aging effects by acting as a similar inhibitor of
monoamine
oxidase (MAO).
Dioscorea opposita refers to the medical part of dried root of plant Dioscorea
opposita. Dioscorea opposita is the dried root of Disocorea plant Dioscorea
opposita
Thumb.. It is plucked in winter after the stem and the leaves have withered.
It is
cut from the rhizome, cleaned, removed from the cortex and fibrous root and
dried.
Dioscorea opposita is currently distributed in North China, Northwest China
and
other provinces, such as Jiangxi in Yangtze River basin.
Dioscorea opposita is an assistant material. It can promote fluid and
moisturize
4
CA 02823423 2013-06-28
the skin. It is recited in "Compendium of Materia Medica" that it is
beneficial to the
kidney, spleen and stomach. It is antidiarrheal, can eliminate phlegm and
moisturize
the skin and hair. It is recited by Gao LI that Dioscorea opposita can be used
to treat
the dried skin with a good moisturizing effect. It is recorded in "Truth-
seeking of
Materia Medica" that Dioscorea opposita is belonging to food. The ancients
added it
into the decoction because it can invigorate spleen, replenish Qi and remove
the
internal heat. Although it is mild in nature, it can invigorate Yin of spleen
and lungs,
thus moisturizing the skin and hair and promoting the muscle. Since it is
sweet, mild
and cool and moisturizing in nature, it can invigorate lungs, kidney as well
as spleen
and stomach. Hence, it is one of the best materials among the tonics with
being mild
in nature and being good for acting as an assistant material.
The four types of medicines of the present invention are listed as the best
materials by "Shen Nong's herbal classic" two thousands years ago, wherein
Asparagus cochinchinensis can moisturize Yin, moisten dryness and invigorate
heart
and lungs and dried rehmannia root can clear heat, supplement body fluid and
invigorate lungs and kidney. The Asparagus cochinchinensis and dried rehmannia
root can be compared with the sky and the earth based on the promotion and
demotion
effect on the Qi, wherein they act as the monarch drug by moisturizing the
head, face,
heart, lungs, Qi and blood on the top and by invigorating liver, kidney,
essence and
blood at the bottom. Dendrobium nobile can invocate spleen and stomach,
invigorate Yin and supplement the body flood, which by acting as the minister
drug
can invocate Qi, spleen and stomach, tonify and supplement the body fluid and
beautify the skin. Dioscorea opposita can be beneficial to the stomach,
supplement
the body fluid and moisturize the skin, which by acting as the assistant drug
can
strengthen the effects on tonifying the stomach, supplementing the body fluid
and
moisturizing the skin. By using these four drugs together, five internal
organs are
adjusted together, the skin is moisturized and the body is clear and tonified.
The
prescription is formulated in combination with large amounts of recitation of
the
ancient cosmetic references and prescriptions as well as repeated tests and
adjustments.
Preferably, in the extract of the Chinese herbal medicines according to the
present invention, the extraction is selected from decoction, refluxing
extraction,
CA 02823423 2013-06-28
soaking, diacolation or their combination.
Preferably, the extract according to the present invention is in a form
selected
from solution, powder, ointment, film or cream.
The present invention also provides a preferred method for the preparation of
the
extract of Chinese herbal medicines, wherein the method comprises:
Mixing thoroughly the starting materials composed of 20-50 parts by weight of
Asparagus cochinchinensis, 20-50 parts by weight of dried rehmannia root, 10-
40
parts by weight of Dendrobium nobile, and 10-40 parts by weight of Dioscorea
opposita; Soaking with water or solvents for 0.5-1 hour then extracting;
wherein
said solvents are selected from methanol, ethanol, isopropanol, n-butanol,
ethylene
glycol, 1,2-propanediol, 1,3-propanediol, 1,3-butylene glycol, acetone, ethyl
acetate
or combinations thereof.
Preferably, said method further comprises:
Filtering, extracting the filtering residue again and combining the filtrate;
Concentrating the filtrate to about 2-fold amount of the medicinal materials
(V/W) (fold amount refers to the ratio between the volume of the solvent (m1)
and the
total weight of the medicinal materials (g));
Then carrying out alcohol precipitation;
Removing the solvent from the supernatant from the alcohol precipitation.
The product of alcohol precipitation can be formulated into desired
formulations,
such as solution, powder, ointment, film or cream.
Preferably, in above method, the soaked Chinese herbal medicine is extracted
by
decoction, refluxing extraction, soaking or diacolation.
Preferably, the alcohol for the alcohol precipitation is selected from
methanol,
ethanol, isopropanol, n-butanol, ethylene glycol, 1,2-propanediol, 1,3-
propanediol,
1,3-butylene glycol or combinations thereof.
6
CA 02823423 2013-06-28
=
The extracted solution of Chinese herbal medicines according to the present
invention have good moisturizing effects, thus it can be applied into
cosmetics. In
particular, it is suitable for applying into cosmetics such as cosmetic skin
cream, eye
cream, facial mask, cleansing milk, lotion, essence and so on.
The extracted solution of Chinese herbal medicines according to the present
invention can be applied onto skin for moisture-retaining directly or be added
into
cosmetics as functional additives, which can help the skin to resistant the
dryness
under a dried environment, prevent the moisture loss, maintain the moisture
and
beautify the skin. Furthermore, it can make the skin brilliant and moist and
have no
irritation on the skin. In addition, its cost is relatively low.
Brief description of the drawings
Figure IA is the cell morphologies of the blank control group without
incubation,
wherein the cell is dried for 0 min.
Figure 1B is the cell morphologies of the blank control group without
incubation,
wherein the cell is dried for 15 min..
Figure 2A is the cell morphologies, wherein the cell is incubated with the
addition of extract A of Example 1 and dried for 0 min.
Figure 2B is the cell morphologies, wherein the cell is incubated with the
addition of extract A of Example 1 and dried for 15 mins.
Figure 3A is the cell morphologies, wherein the cell is incubated with the
addition of extract C of Example 3 and dried for 0 min.
Figure 3B is the cell morphologies, wherein the cell is incubated with the
addition of extract C of Example 3 and dried for 15 min.
Figure 4A is the cell morphologies, wherein the cell is incubated with the
addition of extract D of Example 4 and dried for 0 min.
7
CA 02823423 2013-06-28
Figure 4B is the cell morphologies, wherein the cell is incubated with the
addition of extract D of Example 4 and dried for 15 min.
Embodiments
The present invention will be further described in detail with reference to
the
following examples.
Example 1
Pure Chinese medicinal materials of Asparagus cochinchinensis 30g, dried
rehmannia root 30g, Dendrobium nobile 30g and Dioscorea opposita 10g for a
total
weight of 100g were mixed thoroughly, to which 10-fold amount (fold amount
refers
to the ratio between the volume of the solvent (m1) and the total weight of
the
medicinal materials (g), hereinafter the same) of 75% (v/v) ethanol was added.
The
mixture was kept for cold soaking for 48 h and then filtered. Ethanol was
recovered
from filtrate; and the resultant extracts were dissolved with water to make a
solution
with a concentration of crude drug of 1000 mg/ml, thus obtaining extract A in
the
form of solution.
Example 2
Pure Chinese medicinal materials of Asparagus cochinchinensis 30g, dried
rehmannia root 50g, Dendrobium nobile lOg and Dioscorea opposita lOg for a
total
weight of 100g were mixed thoroughly, to which 10-fold amount of methanol was
added. The mixture was subjected to refluxing extraction for 2 h, and
filtered.
Methanol was recovered from filtrate; and the resultant extracts were
dissolved with
water to make a solution with a concentration of crude drug of 50 mg /ml, thus
obtaining extract B in the form of solution.
Example 3
Pure Chinese medicinal materials of Asparagus cochinchinensis 50g, dried
rehmannia root 30g, Dendrobium nobile 10g and Dioscorea opposita lOg for a
total
weight of 100g were mixed thoroughly, and decocted with 10-fold amount of
water
for about 2 h, concentrated and filtered. The supernatant was made into a
solution
with a concentration of crude drug of 1000 mg /m1 by adding water, thus
obtaining
extract C in the form of solution.
8
CA 02823423 2013-06-28
Example 4
Pure Chinese medicinal materials of Asparagus cochinchinensis 30g, dried
rehmannia root 30g, Dendrobium nobile 30g and Dioscorea opposita 10g for a
total
weight of 100g were mixed thoroughly, and decocted with 10-fold amount of
water
for about 2 h, concentrated, precipitated after 2-fold amount of ethanol was
added,
and then filtered. Ethanol was recovered from filtrate; and the resultant
extracts were
dissolved with water and filtered to make a solution with a concentration of
crude
drug of 500 mg/ml, thus obtaining extract D in the form of solution.
Experiment 1- TGA test in vitro
TGA (thermogravimetric analysis) is a kind of technology to determine the mass
change of the material with temperature and time under programmed temperature
via
TGA instrument, which can indicate the change of amounts, such as water
evaporation.
Water, 10% extract A of Example 1, extract B of Example 2, extract C of
Example 3 and extract D of Example 4 with the same mass were placed under
environment with the same temperature, and the mass changes in different time
periods were measured by TGA instrument. Under the same time point, a higher
residue ratio indicates a stronger capability for the extracts to combine the
moisture
and prevent the evaporation of the moisture and a better moisturizing effect.
The
result was shown in Table 1.
Table 1
Sample Time/residue ratio
30 mins 60 mins 90 mins
water 50.01 6.36 0
10% extract A of Example 1 56.89 17.5 0
10% extract B of Example 2 52.00 10.44 0
10% extract C of Example 3 56.60 18.96 0
10% extract D of Example 4 56.32 20.21 0
Experiment 2- An in vitro test of preventing moisture loss in keratinocytes
9
CA 02823423 2013-06-28
,
The capability of the extracts of the Examples in helping the cell to resist
the
dryness, prevent the moisture loss and maintain the original morphologies of
the cell
is investigated when the epidermal cells are under a dry environment using
evaluation
methods in vitro of cell platform according to relevant moisture-retaining
mechanism.
9.9 ml MEM (Minimum Essential Media) culture medium was added to 0.1 ml
of each of the extracts of the Examples, the resulting solution was subjected
to suction
filtration to formulate into a solution with a concentration of 1%. Similarly,
1%
glycerol solution was formulated as a positive control. The keratinocytes
Hacat of
human epidermis was chosen as the experiment cell. The cells incubated with
normal
MEM culture medium were used as the blank control group, the cells incubated
with
MEM culture medium containing 1% glycerol were used as the positive control
and
the cell incubated with MEM culture medium containing 1% extracts of Examples
were used as extracts-treated group. After incubation for 24H, the liquid on
the cells
was absorbed and the cells was placed under the microscope (10 x20) to observe
the
time period the cells took from the normal to the dry (the morphologies were
changed
significantly). Photos were taken at 15 mins to record the morphologies. The
details
can be found in the attached Figures 1A-5B.
Experiment results:
Under the dry conditions given by the external environment, the cells
incubated
in the blank group without adding the extracts of Examples lost moisture
gradually
and the time to resist the dryness was 720 s. Compared with the blank group,
the time
to resist the dryness of the positive control group incubated with 1% glycerol
was
somewhat increased to be 780s. However, the keratinocytes incubated with each
of
the extracts of the Examples according to the present invention can help the
skin cells
to retain the moisture, give the cells a very good dry-resistance capability.
The time to
resist the dryness was more than 780s and increased above 9% compared with the
blank group, and the effect was better than the positive control with 1%
glycerol. The
detailed results were shown in below Table.
Table 2
Average time to resist Difference %
the dryness (s)
CA 02823423 2013-06-28
Blank control 720
1% glycerol 780 60 8.33%
Extract A of Example 1 810 90 12.5%
Extract B of Example 2 785 65 9.02%
Extract C of Example 3 805 85 11.81%
Extract D of Example 4 830 110 15.28%
At the 15th mins during the drying, the cells of blank group were already
shrunk
and lost water significantly. Its refractive index was increased, the
morphologies were
changed significantly. However, the cells incubated with each of the extracts
of
Examples according to the present invention can substantively maintain their
original
morphologies, indicating that each of the extracts of Examples according to
the
present invention has very good dryness-resistance and moisture-retaining
effect.
Among them, particularly extract D of Example 4 has the best dryness-
resistance and
moisture-retaining effect and the time to resist the dryness can be increased
up to
15.28%.
The above experimental studies indicate: the Chinese herbal medicine
composition of the present Examples can give an excellent dry-resistance
capability to
the keratinocytes of the skin, reduce the moisture loss and help the skin to
keep moist.
11
