Synergistic antioxidant and inherited bioactivities of tremella fuciformis polysaccharide derived carbon dots for multi-layer skin aging therapy

Bioactive herbal carbon dots with inherited activities for multi-layer skin repair. • Achieving comparable anti-photoaging efficacy at half the concentration of vitamin E. • Breaking the ROS-organelle stress cycle while directly repairing three skin layers. • Concurrent barrier restoration, pigmentation inhibition, and collagen promotion. • Offering superior stability and natural mildness. To meet the substantial global demand for skin anti-aging, particularly for effectively against ultraviolet radiation (the primary exogenous driver of skin aging), this study successfully developed a novel tremella fuciformis polysaccharide derived carbon dots (TFP-CDs) via a hydrothermal method. The skin barrier function of the epidermis and the dense extracellular matrix of the dermis, poses a significant delivery challenge. It limits the penetration and bioavailability of most skincare agents, which would affect their intended multi-layer efficacy. To address this, the prepared TFP-CDs with ultrasmall size (∼2.4 nm) and amphiphilic functional groups, have been designed to sequentially overcome the barriers. As biologically responsive nanomaterials, they integrate the inherent bioactivity of herbal extract with excellent antioxidant properties, exhibiting superior efficacy over positive control drug. Through efficiently scavenging ROS, TFP-CDs may help break the vicious cycle of mitochondrial morphological and functional disorders, endoplasmic reticulum stress, and abnormal organelle contacts exacerbated. This study effectively achieves synergistic anti-aging repair in multi-layered skin repair, ranging from epidermal barrier repair and pigmentation inhibition to dermal collagen regeneration. This work provides a potential strategy for the intervention of skin aging, showing preliminary application promise. Download: Download high-res image (326KB) Download: Download full-size image