Isosorbide Dicaprylate

The full Regimen Lab Skincare Encyclopedia Entry for Isosorbide Dicaprylate is in development. Check back in a few weeks for an update!

We think that Isosorbide Dicaprylate will become a standard part of even basic skincare routines in the coming years. The discovery of aquaporin transport won the nobel prize in 1999, but it’s only in recent years that high quality clinical trials have proven the effectiveness of ID in repairing the skin barrier and reducing TEWL, effectively enabling commercial moisturizers to be more efficient (by either requiring less product to have the same effect, or by enabling longer lasting hydration).

What is Isosorbide Dicaprylate and what are its benefits to the skin?

Topical isosorbide dicaprylate favourably modulates genes involved in the maintenance of skin structure and function, resulting in superior clinical outcomes. By improving skin hydration and epidermal permeability barrier, it offers therapeutic applications in skin ageing. (1)

IDC was found to upregulate the expression of AQP3, CD44 and proteins involved in keratinocyte differentiation as well as the formation and function of stratum corneum. A direct comparison between isosorbide dicaprylate versus glycerol lotions revealed a three-fold advantage of  isosorbide dicaprylate in providing skin hydration. Severely dry skin treated with  isosorbide dicaprylate in combination with glycerol showed 133% improvement, whereas 35% improvement was observed with moderately dry human skin. (1) 

Clinical Studies:

A study has concluded that topical isosorbide dicaprylate improves skin hydration and epidermal permeability barrier function by stimulating the expression of a series of genes, namely aquaporin-3, CD44, epidermal differentiation effectors as well as ceramide synthase.

Recent study shows that topical application of selective hyaluronic acid (HA) fragments (large versus small HA) to the skin of wild-type mice (but not CD44 knockout mice) improves keratinocyte-associated epidermal functions and accelerates permeability barrier recovery and skin wound healing. Consequently, specific HA fragment (large versus small HA)-mediated signalling events (through the CD44 receptor) are required for keratinocyte activities. It is tempting to suggest that HA in combination with Isosorbide Dicaprylate could provide a new therapeutic option for patients experiencing epidermal dysfunction and skin damage as well as ageing-related skin diseases, such as epidermal thinning (atrophy), permeability barrier dysfunction and chronic non-healing wounds (2). Together, these results show that IDC is a small-molecule lipophilic regulator of skin hydration and epidermal permeability barrier function, with therapeutic applications in chronically and photoaged skin as well as atopic dermatitis. In summary, the multiplicity of effects and formulation benefits seen using IDC makes it a unique bioactive ingredient for a variety of skin care and treatment products.

1 doi: 10.1111/ics.12405

2 Bourguignon, L. Y. W. Matrix hyaluronan-activated  CD44  signaling  promotes  keratinocyte activities and improves abnormal epidermal functions. Am. J. Pathol. 184, 1912–1919 (2014).