{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,28]],"date-time":"2026-08-28T15:56:10Z","timestamp":1787932570796,"version":"build-2784847793"},"reference-count":34,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"2","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,1,9]],"date-time":"2026-01-09T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1767916800000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"name":"Scientific and technological innovation project of China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences","award":["CI2023E005TS08"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["CI2023E005TS08"]}]},{"name":"Scientific and technological innovation project of China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences","award":["CI2023E005TS09"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["CI2023E005TS09"]}]},{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100001809","name":"National Natural Science Foundation of China","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["82204514"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["82204514"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100001809","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]},{"name":"Fundamental Research Funds for the Central public welfare research institutes of China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences","award":["ZZ15-YQ-066"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["ZZ15-YQ-066"]}]},{"name":"Fundamental Research Funds for the Central public welfare research institutes of China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences","award":["ZZ17-ND-10-19"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["ZZ17-ND-10-19"]}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Molecules"],"abstract":"<jats:p>In recent years, active monomers derived from Chinese herbal medicine and their derivatives have attracted significant attention in the field of skincare product development. Artemisinin and its derivatives, including dihydroartemisinin (DHA), exhibit diverse pharmacological activities such as anti-inflammatory, antibacterial, immunomodulatory, and antitumor effects, showing promising therapeutic potential in skin-related diseases. However, systematic studies on artemisinins in cosmetics are lacking. This study aimed to evaluate the cosmetic potential of DHA by investigating its anti-aging, anti-hair loss, antibacterial, whitening, and anti-glycation activities. Results showed that DHA exhibits multiple biological activities: DHA exhibits anti-aging activity by promoting collagen I synthesis in HDF cell, exhibits anti-hair loss effect by modulating VEGF and DKK1 expression in DPC cell, exhibits antibacterial activity against Malassezia furfur, exhibits whitening activity by suppressing melanin synthesis, and exhibits anti-glycation activity by suppressing glycation reactions. Overall, with the broad biological activities, we believe that DHA holds encouraging promise in the cosmetics industry.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/molecules31020228","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,1,9]],"date-time":"2026-01-09T10:35:52Z","timestamp":1767954952000},"page":"228","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":1,"title":["Potential Cosmetic Applications of Dihydroartemisinin"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"31","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-1576-2860","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Yifan","family":"Zhao","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Artemisinin Research Center & Institute of Chinese Materia Medica, China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences, Beijing 100700, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Mo","family":"Chen","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Shanghai Jahwa United Co., Ltd., Shanghai 200082, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-7455-0951","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Ying","family":"Zheng","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Artemisinin Research Center & Institute of Chinese Materia Medica, China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences, Beijing 100700, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Le","family":"Zhu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Shanghai Jahwa United Co., Ltd., Shanghai 200082, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Cui","family":"Wu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"College of Agroforestry and Medicine, The Open University of China, Beijing 100039, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-1616-9145","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Yue","family":"Ma","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Artemisinin Research Center & Institute of Chinese Materia Medica, China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences, Beijing 100700, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0009-0001-9308-0147","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Ya","family":"Zhao","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Shanghai Jahwa United Co., Ltd., Shanghai 200082, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-1600-1334","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Dong","family":"Zhang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Artemisinin Research Center & Institute of Chinese Materia Medica, China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences, Beijing 100700, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0009-0002-4875-1893","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Haidong","family":"Jia","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Shanghai Jahwa United Co., Ltd., Shanghai 200082, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Lan","family":"Yang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Artemisinin Research Center & Institute of Chinese Materia Medica, China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences, Beijing 100700, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,1,9]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"e14000","DOI":"10.1111\/dth.14000","article-title":"The Effectiveness of Ferulic Acid and Microneedling in Reducing Signs of Photoaging: A Split-Face Comparative Study","volume":"33","author":"Kamila","year":"2020","journal-title":"Dermatol. 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