Possible utilization of the pearl oyster phospholipid and glycogen as a cosmetic material

Abstract The inner contents of pearl oysters from which pearls of high commercial value are harvested do not find any effective use. We screened the inner contents of pearl oyster Pinctada fucata for surfactants or humectants which may be commercially useful as a cosmetic material. Surface tension of the total phospholipid fraction and column-separated subfractions from the pearl oyster were 30-48 mN/m and comparable to those of commercially available surfactants for cosmetic use. Furthermore, the cell proliferation rate and collagen synthetic ability were increased by 11-13% and 29-61%, respectively, when crude glycogen from the pearl oyster was supplied to the culture medium for fibroblasts at concentrations of 0.01-0.2%. When β-particles prepared from the pearl oyster crude glycogen were added to the culture medium for fibroblasts at a concentration of 0.1%, the cell proliferation rate and collagen synthetic ability increased by 15% and 38%, respectively. In addition, the recovery from ultraviolet damage for epidermal keratinocytes was increased by 15-21%, when the crude glycogen from the pearl oyster was added at concentrations of 0.05-0.20% to the culture medium. These results suggest that the phospholipid and crude glycogen from pearl oyster are promising candidate as a cosmetic material.