Exosomes in Skincare: What They Are and Their Benefits for Skin

Exosomes have moved from the laboratory into the language of cosmetics remarkably quickly. They are described as cellular messengers, biological vehicles and even as a new generation of active ingredients. But what do they actually do?

To understand them, we need to start with a very simple idea: the cells in our skin do not work in isolation. They communicate constantly with one another to coordinate different processes. Exosomes are involved in this communication.

They are small structures produced by cells that can transport or carry different molecules. We can think of them as small packages carrying information from one cell to another. Depending on the cell that produces the exosome and the molecules it carries, that information can influence how other cells respond and behave.

This is why exosomes have attracted so much interest in skin research. Their relationship with processes involving fibroblasts, the extracellular matrix, the response to stress and the maintenance of skin homeostasis is being investigated.

That does not mean that every cream using the word “exosomes” will automatically produce all of these effects. To understand what a particular technology may actually contribute, we need to know where its vesicles come from, what they contain and what evidence exists for that specific technology.

What are exosomes?

We can think of an exosome as a small biological package produced by a cell. Its membrane would be the wrapping, while the molecules it transports or carries would be the message.

Those molecules can include proteins, lipids or nucleic acids. And the message is not always the same: it depends on the cell that produced it and the conditions that cell was in.

This is precisely what makes exosomes interesting. An exosome is not relevant simply because it is small, but because of the biological information it can carry.

The cell produces the package. The exosome carries part of the message.

There is, however, an important distinction: an exosome and an extracellular vesicle are not exactly the same thing.

“Extracellular vesicles” is the broader term. To identify a vesicle specifically as an exosome, researchers also need to characterise how it was formed. This is why scientific research often uses the broader term when that origin has not been specifically demonstrated.

What is being researched about exosomes and skin?

Precisely because of their role in cellular communication, exosomes are being studied in different processes related to skin biology.

Some of the main areas of research include:

• Fibroblasts and the extracellular matrix: signals related to fibroblast behaviour and components such as collagen and elastin.
• Response to oxidative stress: mechanisms involved in how cells respond to certain stress factors.
• Homeostasis and barrier function: processes involved in maintaining the skin’s balance.
• Skin aging: mechanisms associated with changes in firmness, elasticity, texture or wrinkles.

The key word here is research. Much of the available evidence comes from cellular models, preclinical studies or dermatological applications that are not equivalent to the everyday topical use of a cosmetic cream.

For that reason, we cannot take any study on exosomes and automatically transfer its results to every product that contains them. When discussing efficacy, what matters is the evidence for the specific technology and, when available, the evaluation of the finished product.

Why does the origin of exosomes matter?

Extracellular vesicles can be produced by cells from very different origins. And that origin influences which molecules they contain and what kind of research exists behind them.

Artificially created delivery systems also exist, including certain liposomes and nanoparticles. Although they may visually resemble extracellular vesicles, they are not exosomes, because they were not produced by a cell.

There is another important distinction: “plant-derived”, “natural” or “biotechnological” does not automatically mean more effective. A technology needs to be evaluated according to how it is obtained, what it contains, how it is characterised and what evidence supports it.

Do more exosomes or smaller exosomes mean greater efficacy?

Not necessarily. In cosmetics, large numbers and extremely small sizes can easily become marketing arguments. But more particles do not automatically mean better results, and being smaller does not by itself demonstrate that an exosome will penetrate more deeply into the skin.

Other factors also matter:

• the origin of the vesicles;
• which molecules they contain or carry;
• how they were obtained and characterised;
• their stability within the formulation;
• the cosmetic vehicle in which they are incorporated;
• and the evidence obtained for the specific technology.

The same applies to concentration. There is no universal percentage of exosomes that can tell us whether a formula will be effective. Different technologies may use different quantification methods, and an isolated figure tells us very little if we do not know exactly what is being measured.

So the most useful question is not simply “how many exosomes does it contain?”, but rather “which technology does it contain, and what do we actually know about it?”

Peptides and exosomes: how are they related?

Peptides and exosomes are different concepts, although they can be related.

A peptide is a chain of amino acids that, depending on its sequence, can act as a specific biological signal. An exosome, by contrast, is a small vesicle produced by a cell that can transport or carry different molecules. These can include peptides.

This means that we can work with peptides in different ways within a cosmetic formula.

On one hand, we can incorporate defined biomimetic peptides, selected to reproduce particular signals and work on specific mechanisms.

On the other hand, some biological technologies contain different peptides as part of a much more complex set of molecules produced by cells.

We can think of the difference in a simple way: a biomimetic peptide is a message that we deliberately select. An exosome can form part of the system that carries different biological messages.

This leads us to a particularly interesting question: what happens when those peptides and vesicles form part of a more complex biological system produced by cells?

This is where we can move from the general explanation to a specific example: Centella Reversa™, the plant-derived technology we use in Cell Reversa.

From plant-derived exosomes to Centella Reversa™

Centella Reversa™ is a technology developed by Vytrus Biotech from Centella asiatica cell cultures.

Instead of simply extracting certain components already present in the plant, its cells are cultured under controlled conditions and the technology also works with molecules that those cells produce and release into their surroundings.

This set of molecules is known as the secretome. Put simply, the secretome is the collection of signals and molecules that cells produce and release into their environment.

The Centella Reversa™ secretome contains a broad diversity of peptides, proteins and plant-derived extracellular vesicles. Vytrus has specifically characterised an exosomal fraction within this technology and identified hundreds of peptides associated with it.

This helps us understand the relationship we have just described. We do not necessarily have “peptides” on one side and “exosomes” on the other acting as two completely independent ingredients. In this case, they form part of the same biological signalling system produced by Centella asiatica cells.

This also helps explain what we mean by biological diversity: compared with a defined biomimetic signal, Centella Reversa™ provides a much broader collection of molecules produced by plant cells.

That does not mean that one approach is automatically better than the other. They are different ways of working with biological signals, and their relevance depends on what we want to achieve within the formula and what evidence supports each technology.

From Centella Reversa™ to Cell Reversa

This complementarity is precisely one of the reasons why Centella Reversa™ became part of Cell Reversa Firming Cream.

But Cell Reversa is not simply “a cream with exosomes”. The formula combines two different ways of working with biological signals.

Centella Reversa™ provides biological diversity: a complex secretome containing thousands of peptides, proteins and extracellular vesicles.

Biomimetic peptides provide precision: defined signals selected to work on specific mechanisms.

The aim was not to accumulate technologies in order to make the formula look more impressive on paper. It was to combine different approaches when each one had a clear role within the same formulation strategy.

A strategy focused particularly on different processes related to how the extracellular matrix, firmness and the structure of the skin change over time.

What results did Cell Reversa achieve?

Studying the mechanisms associated with a technology is one thing. Evaluating what happens when that technology becomes part of a finished cosmetic formula is another.

That is why Cell Reversa was evaluated for 56 days in 24 participants.

In the study, the average roughness of the analysed wrinkle decreased by 9%, with a statistically significant result, and 96% of participants showed an improvement in this parameter.

In addition, 95.83% reported that their skin felt firmer, while 100% perceived an improvement in skin texture and hydration.

The finished-product study did not measure cellular communication or cellular regeneration. And that distinction matters.

We therefore have two different, complementary levels of information:

• Centella Reversa™: research on a plant-derived technology, its components and certain biological mechanisms studied experimentally.
• Cell Reversa: results obtained when the finished cosmetic formula is used on the skin for 56 days.

One helps us understand why we choose particular technologies. The other allows us to assess what the finished formula actually achieves.

Discover Cell Reversa and explore the full formula .