Skincare Ingredients and Facts – Exosomes

Have you been hearing that exosomes are the next BIG thing in regenerative medicine and aesthetic skin rejuvenation? We sure have! And lot’s of our clients are asking if exosomes are for real, or is it all just hype?

For the most part, it’s lots of hype, but exosomes are for real! And they do hold the potential to be the next major breakthrough in understanding our body’s almost miraculous ability to heal itself and ward off disease.

Put simply, an exosome is a specialized delivery vwehicle, “a biological packet” made of a lipid bi-layer that contains and delivers cytokines, metabolites, messenger RNA, and other bio-signaling materials for highly sophisticated, (and frankly, little understood) biological activity including skin rejuvenation, wound healing, and other immune-response dependent activities. Exosomes are one method a cell may call upon to deliver biologically relevant information to other cells or organelles.

Exosomes, (like the cytokines they often contain), have been observed to deliver both beneficial, and pathological signals to cells that have been observed to have both positive and negative effects on living systems. So before we get all excited about exosomes, we need to know:

what information is in the exosomes, where it’s to be delivered, and why?

The exosome itself may have little to no relevance in the biological effect of the events it’s contents initiate, (beyond delivering the message). In fact the exosome may merely be an efficient means of preserving bio-signalling materials as they are conveyed between cells and organelles, (much like the nano-lipids used in medicine and cosmetics for the preservation of ingrdients).

Again, the important question to ask when someone tells you they have the “best exosomes” on the market, or “the latest”, or “the strongest”, or “the highest concentration of proteins”, or whatever claim the salesman is making to differentiate what he’s doing from what everyone else is doing; the most important question is “WHAT’S IN YOUR EXOSOMES?” If they do not know which cytokines, or what mRNA, or which bio-signalling materials are present, and why they are beneficial, and to what type of tissue, cell or organelle, then they’re just blowing smoke.

The second important question to ask: how are the lipid bi-layers of your exosomes preserved? If they cannot describe the processing mechanics to ensure preservatio of the lipid bilayer, again… more smoke.

Exosomes are little understood, and most reputable organizations doing research involving exosomes list the following qualifying statement somewhere in their publication: “For Research Use Only, or not for use in diagnostic procedures.”

We believe that exosomes are a part of our growing understanding of immune response.  That understanding is contributing, and will contribute to advancements in the anti-aging and skin rejuvenation space. But unril recently we had not found anyone with enough knowledge about how exosomes contribute to improved results to sell a product based upon that understanding. We have been regularly solicited by companies researching and manufacturing a variety of cytokine, exosome and other immune-response based products and devices.

to see the Exosome product we endorse, take a look at XSkin Exosomes.