Cosmetic and personal care products including toothpaste, shampoo, creams, makeup, among others, are usually formulated with petroleum-based surfactants, although in the last years the consume trend for "green" products is inducing the replacement of surface-active agents in these formulations by natural surfactants, so-called biosurfactants. In addition to their surfactant capacity, many biosurfactants can act as good emulsifiers, which is an extra advantage in the preparation of green cosmetic products. In this work, a biosurfactant obtained from Lactobacillus paracasei was used as a stabilizing agent in oil-in-water emulsions containing essential oils and natural antioxidant extract. In the presence of biosurfactant, maximum percentages of emulsion volumes (EV=100%) were observed, with droplets sizes about 199nm. These results were comparable with the ones obtained using sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS), a synthetic well known surfactant with high emulsify capacity. Moreover, the biosurfactant and emulsions cytotoxicity was evaluated using a mouse fibroblast cell line. Solutions containing 5g/L of biosurfactant presented cell proliferation values of 97%, whereas 0.5g/L of SDS showed a strong inhibitory effect. Overall, the results herein gathered are very promising towards the development of new green cosmetic formulations.
Keywords: Antioxidants; Biosurfactant; Cells; Emulsions; Essential oils; Skin.
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