Shiseido Discovers Stretching along the Anti-Gravity System ”Dynamic Belt” Activates Arrector Pili Muscles—Key to Improving ”Sagging”
Shiseido discovered that ”Dynamic Belt,” the anti-gravity system inside the skin that resists ”sagging” caused by gravitational force, is oriented in a certain direction through joint research with Dr. Kyoichi Matsuzaki, Chief of External Plastic Surgery, Faculty of Medicine at the International University of Health and Welfare, together with researchers at Jichi Medical University and the National Institute for Physiological Sciences. Moreover, it was confirmed that stretching the skin along the direction of Dynamic Belt activates the arrector pili muscles, with potential to improve facial sagging. Furthermore, our company found the licorice extract and the raspberry-derived extract were useful as ingredients that activate smooth muscle cells constituting the arrector pili muscles.
Shiseido has been conducting this research with the aim of elucidating the causes of ”eternal skin concerns” that our customers have been expressing for many years, including dark spots/dullness, wrinkles, sagging, and pores, and developing solutions under ”Skin Beauty INNOVATION,” one of the three pillars of Shiseido’s R＆D strategy. The results of this research have been partly presented at ”The 31st International Federation of Societies of Cosmetic Chemists (IFSCC) Congress in Yokohama (October 21–30, 2020)” and won the top award, making Shiseido the winner of IFSCC Congress top award four consecutive times together with other ”Anti-Gravity Science V” findings.
Shiseido’s efforts to tackle ”sagging” and approaches to the anti-gravity system ”Dynamic Belt”
With the aim to prevent and improve ”sagging,” Shiseido has been working toward the elucidation of the underlying mechanisms. Using ”4D Digital Skin,” the 4D skin analysis technology developed by our company to capture not only the structure of the skin but also its movements, we discovered a system in which the skin resists gravity that causes skin sagging. The mechanism involves the physical resistance of the skin against deformation, which is facilitated by the arrector pili muscles*1 densely distributed on the inside of the skin, and is referred to as ”Dynamic Belt.” Further, we have also elucidated that weakening of Dynamic Belt due to aging leads to sagging. This time, our research team worked on the development of approaches targeting this weakened Dynamic Belt.
New Discovery 1: The direction of gravity-resisting ”Dynamic Belt” in the skin of the face
In order to approach Dynamic Belt (i.e., arrector pili muscle groups) that has become weakened with age, it is important to understand what the conditions of the arrector pili muscles are in the skin of the face. There is no adequate way to observe the arrector pili muscles from the outside of the skin. Therefore, we performed a three-dimensional analysis of the structure of the arrector pili muscles, and found that the arrector pili muscles are oriented in the direction that almost corresponds to the direction of the vellus hair (Figure 1). It was then possible to confirm the direction of the arrector pili muscles by observing the direction of the vellus hair. The observation of the facial vellus hair revealed that the direction of the arrector pili muscles, or in other words, the direction of the physical force produced by the arrector pili muscles (Dynamic Belt). Using this knowledge, we advanced our study to explore an effective approach to tackle the weakened arrector pili muscles.
New Discovery 2: Stretching along the direction of Dynamic Belt is key to improving facial sagging
Shiseido thought that weakened Dynamic Belt due to aging might recover if the arrector pili muscles could be activated. Accordingly, Shiseido cultured skin and applied various stimuli, and found that stretching the skin along the direction of the arrector pili muscles activated the arrector pili muscles (Figure 3). This finding led us to consider the possibility that improvement in Dynamic Belt and sagging might be achieved by performing stretching along the direction of the muscles, i.e., Dynamic Belt.
New Discovery 3: Ingredients that activate the arrector pili muscles
Applying these results, Shiseido searched for ingredients that activate smooth muscle cells constituting the arrector pili muscles. This led to the identification of the licorice extract and the raspberry-derived extract, which were found to have the cell activating effect.
Source: Shiseido
