1Faculty of Bioresources, Mie University, Mie 514-8507, 2Research & Development Division, MIKIMOTO PHARMACEUTICAL CO., LTD, Mie 516-8581, Japan
The utilization of the pearl oyster Pinctada fucata glycogen as a cosmetic material was examined, taking the cell proliferation rate, collagen synthetic ability, and recovery from ultraviolet damage for normal human dermal fibroblasts NHDF(NB) and epidermal keratinocytes NHEK(B) as parameters. The cell proliferation rate andcollagen 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 concentra-tion 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 0.05-0.25% to the culture medium. These results suggest that the crude glycogen from pearl oyster is a promising candidate as a cosmetic material.