Application Prospects of Schisandra chinensis Fruit Post-Distillation Residues in Anti-Photoaging Products: Enhancing Anti-Photoaging Through Lignans Conversion

A significant quantity of residues will produce when volatile oil in Schisandra chinensis fruit is extracted by steam distillation. It is important to investigate the residues for potential use. Currently, there is an increasing demand for anti-photoaging products due to the skin damage caused by UV radiation. In this paper, the ingredients of the residues were investigated, and the anti-photoaging activities of residues extracts were studied. The results showed that the residues still contained notable amounts of lignans, flavonoids, and organic acids. In the extracted fraction of dichloromethane (DE), the residues contained higher amounts of schizandrol B and schisantherin A compared to the fresh fruit. The levels were particularly high at 17.39 ± 0.02 and 52.58 ± 0.04 mg/ml, respectively. By lowering the amount of matrix metalloproteinase-1 (MMP-1), reactive oxygen species (ROS) accumulation, and type I collagen (COL-I) loss in fibroblasts, the residues showed targeted benefits in the fight against skin photoaging. In particular, the DE-R phase of residues was very successful in raising the level of COL-I, matching or even exceeding that of retinol (ROL) and undistilled fresh fruits. Protocatechuic acid, schizandrol A, schizandrol B, schisantherinA, schisandrin A and schizandrin B were found to have a significant correlation with the anti-photoaging ability of residues. Particularly, there was a strong and significant correlation between an increase in COL-I and schizandrol B (|ρ| = 0.829*) and schisantherin A (|ρ| = 0.928**), and the distillation procedure has the potential to increase the amount of schizandrol B and schisantherin A in the residues.