Development and characterization of cosmetic cream formulation incorporating piper betle linn. extract

Abstract

Hyperpigmentation is a common and crucial aesthetic problem frequently encountered by women in which the darkened patches or spots appear on the skin. Therefore, cosmetic products containing skin lightening agents are used to inhibit the occurrence of the skin hyperpigmentation. The study aimed to obtain Piper betle aqueous extract containing hydroxychavicol (HC) from Piper betle leaves using subcritical water extraction method, to develop and optimize the formulation of cosmetic cream incorporating Piper betle crude extract and to characterize the optimized cream formulation incorporating Piper betle aqueous extract. Firstly, the Piper betle leaves were extracted using subcritical water extraction method to obtain Piper betle aqueous extract containing HC, a skin lightening agent. In order to determine the optimal extraction condition, extraction temperatures ranging from 40 to 180℃ and extraction time intervals of 10 to 90 min were tested. The results revealed that the highest amount of HC extracted was 7.53 ± 0.03%, w/w at a temperature of 100℃ with 60 min time interval with a total HC yield of 30.58 ± 0.12 mg/g Piper betle leaves. Next, the optimization of cream was conducted by incorporating stabilizers i.e. chelating agent of disodium ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA) and complexing agents of hydroxypropyl-β-cyclodextrin (Hp-β-CD) and caffeine, which were added to stabilize HC in Piper betle extract and minimize degradation in the formulations. The preliminary stability study showed that F4 containing disodium EDTA minimized the HC degradation by 11.48 ± 1.13%. Following that, different cream formulations were subjected to a three-month stability study in different storage conditions at the temperatures of 40℃ and 30℃. Prior to stability study, three types of formulation were prepared and differentiated through the addition of aqueous extract of Piper betle (F1), aqueous extract of Piper betle with added disodium EDTA (F4), and dichloromethane (DCM) extract of Piper betle (F5). All formulations were characterized for physical analysis, pH determination, droplet size analysis, zeta potential determination, rheological analysis, microbial limit count assay, and HPLC assay to observe any HC degradation. After comparing all formulations, F4 was determined as the most stable formulation for yielding acceptable results within all parameters of cream characterization with the least degradation of HC of 26.32 ± 0.09% and 19.36 ± 0.30% at 40℃ and 30℃, respectively, within three months. As a result, an optimized and stable cosmetic cream incorporating Piper betle aqueous extract containing HC from Piper betle leaves was successfully developed.