INTRODUCTION:
Herbal medicines were in use since the beginning of centuries to maintain good health and to treat diseases1.Herbal cosmetics are the products in which herbs of medicinal importance are used in or extract or crude form. At present, the knowledge and experience of herbs usage are being blend with advanced cosmetic technology to develop a safe and elegant cosmetic product, which has wider range of people acceptability. Herbs with medicinal properties have the advantage of having no or least adverse effect and have a wide spectrum of consumer compliance1.
Plant materials possess many varieties of active ingredients (photochemical) and have the ability to calm and smoothen the skin and to actively heal the skin and also restore and protect the skin. Skin, as an external protective biological barrier, is involved in the regulation of temperature of body, water content and lipid stores and easily becomes a potential target for oxidative stress2. The very important ingredient to be present in a cosmetic purpose skin cream is an antioxidant which is very much needed by the skin.
This prevents damage to the cell membranes and the harm caused by the UV rays of the sun, pollution caused by the environment, passive smoking and other such elements. Additional value can be considered for these formulations by incorporating plant extracts with specific cosmetic effects3. One such plant material chosen for current work is cabbage.
Cabbage is a popular cultivator of the species Brassica oleracea of the family Brassicaceae. Cabbage is a leafy, clusters of thick superimposed into compact layers, allowing it to take globular round shape vegetable. Several varieties of cabbage were cultivated worldwide which includes green, purple, red, and loose-wrinkled. In addition to the dietary supplements, a number of topical formulations containing ascorbic acid and derivatives are now available in the market which, induce collagen synthesis, strengthens skin tissues, reduction in pigmentation loss, and improved growth and health activities4.
Vitamin C is a compound with water-soluble, acidic and strong reducing properties. Vitamin C occurs in many plants and animals naturally except humans. This natural vitamin exists in L-ascorbic acid form which is 90% more active than the D-isomer. It is a strong reducing agent, which carries out its reducing function and easily converts to its oxidized form, the L- Dehydroascorbicacid, when oxidative stress is present, hence, L-ascorbic acid is used as a food-additive in food industry, functions as a versatile antioxidant to protect food from deterioration by oxidation. As a potent antioxidant, vitamin C has the capacity to eliminate several different free radicals5.
Skin related problems are the most common type of problems seen in all ages of people irrespective of gender. Many of the plant extracts have a wide range of vitamins and antioxidants that has proven to have many skin benefits. Such plant extracts has to be identified, extracted, formulations have to be developed and evaluated for safety and efficacy on human use. Chemical based skin cosmetics have many side effects compared to herbal ones, due to which people now prefer herbal cosmetics over chemical counterparts. In the present study, a multipurpose cosmetic cream with many skin benefits using vitamin C extracts from cabbage was formulated.
A cream is a topical preparation for skin application. Creams are semi-solid emulsions of water components and oily components, classified into two different types: the first type, oil-in-water (O/W) creams which are composed of oil dispersed small droplets in a continuous aqueous phase, and the second type, water-in-oil (W/O) creams composed of small aqueous droplets of water dispersed in a continuous oily phase. Many of the Oil-in-water based creams are cosmetically acceptable because they are less greasy and can be easily washed off with water. Water-in-oil creams are more difficult to handle but many pharmaceutical medicaments which are incorporated into creams were hydrophobic in nature and will be released more readily from a water-in-oil cream than from an oil-in-water cream. The pH, viscosity, spreadabilty, and stability of prepared base were investigated6. A natural skin cosmetic should moisturize, hydrate and nourish the skin. In any skin care routine a natural face cream is vital and necessary. Currently women population are still using herbal cosmetics to beautify their skin. Natural remedies are more acceptable because they are safe with very few side effects than that of synthetic ones7.
OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY:
Extraction of Vitamin C, extract is incorporated variable quantities into different cream bases to check the formulation. Testing the cosmetic cream on skin. The cream formulations of cabbage extract was tested for the preliminary cosmetic cream testing parameters like the PH, Homogeneity, Appearance, spread ability, after feel, removal from application area, Irritancy Test and further to check the formulation stability.
MATERIALS AND METHODS:
The cabbage for the study was procured from market, leaves were cut, washed and then dried in hot air oven at 70ºC for 16-24h, finely powdered.
Fig 1: preparation of cabbage for extraction
Extraction of Vitamin C from Cabbage:
3.0g of powdered cabbage was taken into a beaker and 25ml of solvent (5% Metaphosphoric acid-10% acetic acid) was added for extraction. It was swirled and left for 10 minutes under stirring conditions. It was later filtered by using a Whatmann 99 filter paper and filtrate extract was stored in refrigerator for further use.
Fig 2: Extraction of vitamin c from Cabbage
The presence of vitamin C in cabbage extract was confirmed by titrating the extract against 2, 6-dichlorophenol indophenols, this method is based on strong reducing power, an outstanding property of ascorbic acid and most analytical methods for its determination are based on this important property8.
Fig 3: Presence of vitamin C in the cabbage extract
Cream Formulation:
In general, Oil in water (O/W) emulsion-based creams, which are semisolid in nature were formulated. The formulations involves the oil phase (Part A) and the aqueous phase (Part B) ingredients (Table 1) weighed into two different beakers. Heated on a water bath (75ºC), and the homogenous the mixture in mortar and pestle (Fig: 4, 5, and 6).
Formulation A:
For the Formulation A, in one beaker the emulsifier stearic acid and cety alcohol, mineral oil which are oil soluble components, were dissolved in the oil phase components (Part A) and heated to about 75°C. In another beaker all the other water soluble components, Tri ethanol amine and glycerin, extract of cabbage and the preservatives were dissolved in the aqueous phase (Part B) and heated to 75°C. After heating, the oil phase components was added in small portions to the and the aqueous phase components with continuous trituration in porcelain mortar until a smooth cream is formed.
Table 1: Ingredients of cream formulation A
|
S. No. |
Ingredients |
(%w/w) |
|
a |
Extract of cabbage |
0.125 |
|
b |
Stearic acid |
2 |
|
c |
Cetyl alcohol |
1 |
|
d |
Mineral oil |
1 |
|
e |
Glycerin |
0.75 |
|
f |
Triethanolamine |
0.25 |
|
g |
Water |
q.s |
Fig 4: Preparation of cream formulation A.
Formulation B:
Cetyl alcohol and stearic acid were dissolved in the oil phase and heated to attain a temperature of 75°C, Triethanolamine, Propylene glycol, extracts of cabbage were dissolved in the aqueous phase and heated to attain a temperature of 75°C. After heating and attainment of the temperature, the aqueous phase contents were mixed with the oil phase contents with constant stirring until homogenous cream was formed.
Table 2: Preparation of cream formulation B
|
S. No. |
Ingredients |
(%w/w) |
|
a |
Extract of cabbage |
0.18 |
|
b |
Stearic acid |
1.5 |
|
c |
Cetyl alcohol |
0.75 |
|
d |
Triethanolamine |
0.5 |
|
e |
Propylene glycol |
1 |
|
f |
Water |
q.s |
Fig 5: Preparation of cream formulation B
Formulation C:
Cetyl alcohol, stearic acid and mineral oil were dissolved in the oil phase and was heated to attain a temperature of 75°C. Moisturizing conditioner mixture was prepared by mixing propylene glycol, glycerin and sorbitol in the ratio 2:1:1. Triethanolamine, glycerin, extracts of cabbage sodium metabisulphite, moisturizing conditioner, EDTA, perfume are dissolved in the aqueous phase and were heated to attain a temperature of 75°C. After attainment of the required temperature, the aqueous phase was mixed with the oil phase with constant stirring until a homogenous cream is formed.
Table 3: Ingredients of cream formulation C
|
S. No. |
Ingredients |
(%w/w) |
|
a |
Extract of cabbage |
0.5 |
|
b |
Stearic acid |
2.5 |
|
c |
Cetyl alcohol |
1 |
|
d |
Triethanolamine |
0.37 |
|
e |
Mineral oil |
0.87 |
|
f |
Moisturizer conditioner |
2.5 |
|
g |
Sodium metabisulphite |
0.025 |
|
h |
EDTA |
0.025 |
|
i |
Water |
q.s |
Fig 6: Preparation of cream formulation C
Cream formulations Evaluation:
Determining pH of the Cream:
Approximately 0.5 g of the each cream formulation was weighed from the container and dissolved in 50.0 ml of distilled water and the pH of the solution was determined for each cream formulations and noted.
Homogeneity:
A small amount of cream formulations was taken and checked for its homogeneity by visual appearance and with the touch and rubbing between the fingers.
Appearance:
The appearance of the cream formulations were judged based on its pearlscence, color, roughness and uniformity.
Spread ability:
A fixed quantity of different formulations of cream were applied on to the dorsal skin surface of the human body and then the properties like homogeneity of creams, type of smear, removal of creams were observed.
After feel:
Emolliency, slipperiness and amount of residue left after the application of fixed amount of different cream formulations were checked.
Type of smear:
A fixed amount of different cream formulations were applied on to the dorsal skin surface of the human skin and the type of smear or film formed on the skin was checked
Removal:
All three creams were applied on the dorsal skin surface. The ease of removal of the creams applied on the surface was examined by subjecting the applied part for washing under laminar flow of tap water for 10 to 15s.
Irritancy test:
An area was marked about 1sq.cm on the left hand dorsal surface. The cream was applied to this specified area on to the skin and timer was switched on. The cream application area was checked for Irritancy, edema, erythema if any, at regular intervals up to 24 h.
Stability testing:
Accelerated stability testing for the cream formulations was conducted for 6 days at room temperature. And for the two most stable cream formulations found during room temperature studies, the accelerated studied were conducted at 40oC ± 1oC for 20 days. The formulations were tested both at room and at elevated temperatures and observations were noted on the 0th, 5th, 10th, 15th and 20th day for various parameters.
RESULTS:
The final cabbage extract cream formulations A, B, and C were represented in the figures 7, 8 and 9 respectively, which were homogenous, smooth, appearance, spreadable smear and easily washable stable cream preparation.
Fig 7: Cream formulation A
Fig 8: Cream formulation B
Fig 9: Cream formulation C
Cream formulation labelled as A, B and C were evaluated and checked for the preliminary parameters (Table:4) and the observations were listed found all three formulations A, B and C were found intact and respond to all the parameters similar except the PH of the formulation C was 6.3 slightly higher than the formulations A and B. The stability testing results for 6 days (Table 5) indicated stable at RT, and Table 6 represents two stable formulations subjected to the accelerated temperature 40ºC study and the results of the cream formulations A and B.