COSMETIC COMPOSITION CONTAINING LEVAN HAVING CELL- PROLIFERATION, SKIN-MOISTURIZING AND IRRITATION- ALLEVIATING EFFECTS

摘要

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a cosmetic composition containing a polysaccharide (levan) which exerts an excellent cell-proliferating, skin moisturizing and skin irritation- alleviating effects and is produced by microbes free of stability- and safety- related problems. SOLUTION: The cosmetic composition contains the polysaccharide (levan) which is isolated and purified from microbes known to produce levan using sucrose as a substrate, such as Rahnella aquatilis, Zymomonas mobilis and Pseudomonas aurantiaca. Levan is isolated and purified from media in which the microbes have been cultured, and dried. The levan extracted and purified from the microbes is shown to have an excellent skin-moisturizing effect through a measurement of its moisturizing effect, no toxicity through a cytotoxicity test and a skin irritation-alleviating effect through a skin irritation test employing a three-dimensional bioartificial skin and a human patch test. The composition is also shown to exert an excellent elasticity-enhancing effect via moisturization by directly applying it onto a human skin at a concentration equal to or higher than a predetermined level. COPYRIGHT: (C)2004,JPO