Effects of Peach (Prunus persica)-Derived Glucosylceramide on the Human Skin

BACKGROUND: Plant-derived ceramides are functional natural products with vari-ous physiological effects that improve water retention and skin permeability functions. OBJECTIVE: Herein, we isolated peach (Prunus persica)-derived glucosylceramide with high purity and evaluated its effects on moisture and permeability of skin. METHODS: Three separate experiments were performed: evaluations of the effect of peach-derived glucosylceramide application on the ceramide content in a three-dimensional hu-man cultured skin model, water retention effect of the oral administration of the peach-derived glucosylceramide on human skin functionality, and safety of the long-term admin-istration of the peach-derived glucosylceramide in human subjects. RESULTS: Treatments of three-dimensional cultures of human skin with peach-derived gluco-sylceramide led to dose-dependent increases in human ceramide contents. Additionally, af-ter oral administration of ceramide to humans, dose-dependent improvements in water re-tention functions of skin, suppression of trans-epidermal water loss and improvements in skin texture were observed. Furthermore, no significant changes in subjective/objective symptoms, physical characteristics, or laboratory test values were observed in human sub-jects following long term oral administration of ceramide at doses that were 4.5-9-times greater than recommended. Taken together, the present data indicate the positive effects of peach ceramide on skin function and no adverse effects.