Just a few days ago, I saw a new advertisement for a beauty skin care product, saying that it was extracted from the folk “Returning to the Dead†to extract the essence and moisturize the beauty, just to lead a new wave of beauty trends.
Printed on the advertisement is Selaginella, which is the legendary Nine Resurrection. The reason why this name is called is because in the dry season they can abandon more than 70% of the body's water content. Once the rain falls, it will immediately return to greenness and vitality, just like a juggling act. Although the drought-resistance was good, this plant is not a worldly immortal grass. It has its presence on many hills. People want to obtain from them what is the secret to maintain the skin supple, find the wrong place.
The reason why drought can be resisted is because the cells of these grasses (purely ferns) can produce trehalose (which is synthesized from two glucose molecules) as a defense against drought. Whether it is an animal or a plant, there is a tiny water environment in the cells. Various organelles and proteins are floating in it, just like aquatic plants and goldfish floating in aquariums. Once dehydrated, the contents inside are naturally squeezed into a mass, and the production line that produces metabolic work is completely destroyed, and cells cannot escape death. The Selaginella trehalose is the structure that helps its cells maintain a more stable "streamline" structure during dehydration, waiting for the rain to land.
Not only Selaginella but also some animals have similar tricks. A chironomid larva living in Africa can also synthesize trehalose in the body, thus resisting drought and even being able to survive in a state of cosmic vacuum for at least one year in this state. In addition, trehalose has been used for the preservation of dehydrated foods, and even for animal and human organ experiments with low-temperature dehydration and preservation, and the effect is not bad.
However, human cells cannot synthesize trehalose. It is no wonder that the evolutionary selection process in the long term has determined that we do not need this function. Is it effective to apply these substances to our skin?
Unfortunately, our skin cells do not have a sense of closeness to this magical substance, which is difficult to penetrate into the cells through the cell membrane unless it spends long enough time in the solution. In addition, the trehalose mechanism of action is not a lot of water absorption, helps the skin smooth and glossy, but in the dehydration condition, so that cells live longer. I am afraid that no such beauty needs this function. If you just want to keep water, it's better to simply wipe out the glycerol solution that can absorb water from the air.
This ad accidentally fell into the shape of a formal complement. It is still good to use the tenacious image of Seongbi as a symbolic mascot for beauty skin care products. As for the responsibility of having them take on this responsibility, it is a little bit of a catch for the duck. Can only blame the shape of the shape of the concept of poisoning too deep, like eating a kidney to make up the kidneys, boiled soup to cure asthma, Cistanche (looks like a plant of the male genitalia) to the effect of aphrodisiac are mostly fantasy. If you really want to achieve your goal, look at the ingredients, and prescribe the right medicine.
Of course, Selaginella is not useless, and some of its anti-bacterial and anti-inflammatory ingredients are being analyzed and developed. Maybe they can contribute to human health in the future.