The Italian study reports its nanoparticles also act as antioxidants. That’s why companies add antioxidant chemicals to to fight the radicals. Oxygen radicals also can react with and break down sunscreen ingredients. Many normal chemical reactions in the body produce these radicals. It boosts the gold nanoparticles’ ability to mop up harmful chemicals called oxygen radicals, also known as oxidants. This should give sunscreens a higher sun-protection factor, or SPF. ![]() It means adding slime-coated gold could boost a sunscreen’s protection even more than plain gold bits. Compared with plain gold nanoparticles, the team’s snail-slimed particles absorbed more. Many sunscreens contain ingredients that do both.Ĭosma’s team dissolved its nanogold in water and then measured how much light the mix absorbed. This is probably because the mucus absorbs some light at the same time the gold is reflecting light. Snail slime itself also appears to boost gold’s sun-screening abilities. LAGUNA DESIGN/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY/iStock/Getty Images Plus This illustration of a gold nanoparticle shows how the individual gold atoms might clump together. (Other natural substances have also been used as a “greener” way to make nanoparticles, such as extracts from plants or fungi.) Those chemicals can release pollutants into the environment. So individual atoms of this gold now clump into nanoparticles.Ĭompanies often make gold nanoparticles with chemicals that are “not eco-friendly,” Rizzi notes. It turns it into Au 0, Cosma says, which “is the metal form of gold.” Unlike Au 3+, this form doesn’t dissolve in water. When the snail-slime protein gives electrons to Au 3+, the gold is no longer an ion. A reduction agent, he explains, gives up electrons to chemical ions. He’s another chemist on the team at the University of Bari Aldo Moro. “The main component of snail slime - a protein - is a reduction agent,” explains Vito Rizzi. Snail slime changed those gold atoms from one form, called Au 3+, into a type called Au 0. Her team mixed that slime into a flask with gold atoms dissolved in water. Explainer: Ions and radicals in our world She works at the University of Bari Aldo Moro. “But in a mild way,” adds Pinalysa Cosma - “not in a way that hurts the snails.” Cosma is a chemist on the team. A special ozone-filled chamber had encouraged the snails to ooze slime. They also can apparently lighten age spots.įor their new study, researchers in Bari, Italy, used slime that had been harvested from the brown garden snail ( Helix aspersa Müller). The goopy trails they leave can hydrate skin. Today, some spas offer “snail facials.” Live snails ooze across the face. But snail-based skincare is far from new. Snail slime might sound like the last thing you’d want to smear on your face. The study describing the new tech appeared in the November Journal of Photochemistry and Photobiology B: Biology. And these innovative products may not only be great for our skin but also safer for our planet. The researchers hope their slimy gold specks will be used one day in sunscreens and other cosmetics. ![]() The mucus made the process eco-friendly and also could help personal-care products last longer. To make such nanobits, researchers in Italy used snail slime to clump gold atoms together. But nanoparticles of gold could work better due to their high reflectivity and low toxicity. Usually those are bits of the metals zinc or titanium. Suncreens often contain tiny particles that reflect sunlight. Two unlikely materials - snail slime and gold - may be the secret to better sunscreens.
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