Panthenol

  

Panthenol is a natural chemical compound closely related to vitamin B5 (pantothenic acid). In fact, panthenol is only one metabolic step away from vitamin B5 and is relatively easily converted to it in the body. Due to its chemical properties, panthenol is much better that vitamin B5 in penetrating the skin and thus appears to be superior in most topical uses.

Panthenol has been reported to produce a number of skin benefits. In partiular, D-panthenol promotes wound healing, helps restore damaged epithelium, reduces itching and inflammation, improves skin hydration, reduces transepidermal water less, improves skin roughness, and more. It is not entirely clear how panthenol achieves all these effects. Most likely, much of it is due to conversion of panthenol to vitamin B5 (aka pantothenic acid), a component of coenzyme A, which has multiple metabolic functions in the body: aid in cellular energy production; metabolism of proteins, fats and carbohydrates; synthesis of fatty acids, steroids, glucose, acetylcholine and so forth. On the other hand, while only D-panthenol yields biologically active vitamin B5 and promotes wound healing, both D and L-panthenol appear to have moisturizing effects. More research is needed to determine which skin effects of panthenol occurs via boosting the skin levels of vitamin B5 and which through other mechanisms.

However, it may go even further. Panthenol has been shown to increase the proliferation of fibroblasts in the dermis, the middle layer of the skin where wrinkles form. Activation of fibroblasts is typically associated not just with an increase in their number but also with increased synthesis of all components of skin matrix, such as collagen, elastin and glycans as well as overall skin remodeling. Taken together, these effects tend to improve areas with damaged or irregular skin matrix, such as wrinkles and fine lines.



Ingredients:
Botanical Name:  Panthenol
Common Name:   Panthenol