Transbuccal platform for delivery of lipogenic actives to facial skin: Because fat matters.

The ability to control facial skin physiology and appearance through the oral mucosa (transbuccally) is largely unexplored. Here, a hypothesis was tested that transbuccal delivery of fat tissue-supportive actives may trigger beneficial cosmetic responses at the level of the skin. First, the importance of the fat tissue for skin structure and function was established by comparative analysis of human biopsies cultured defatted or in the presence of hypodermis, using macroscopic observation, quantitative polymerase chain reaction, and histochemistry. Then, the ability to improve epidermal function and structure through the application of a lipoactive patch to oral mucosa was demonstrated in a clinical case study by the quantification of several epidermal microRNAs (miRNAs). It was found that removal of the hypodermal fat layer accelerated skin biopsy aging as demonstrated by the deterioration of the physical appearance at the macroscopic and microscopic (hematoxylin and eosin stain) levels and the decrease of expression of genes implicated in the structure and function of the skin, such as AQP3 and LOR. Furthermore, when adipogenic actives were applied to the oral mucosa under a form of bioadhesive film in a clinical case study, an improvement in the expression of miRNA biomarkers of senescence and inflammation was observed in the epidermis. Taken together, these results indicate that the transbuccal delivery of lipogenic compounds to face is a novel method for the improvement of facial skin structure and function.