Functional Research on Fermented Pine Needles for the Development of Cosmetic Materials for Acne Improvement

In this study, the pine needles were fermented with microorganisms originated from Jeju island and the antioxidant and antibacterial activities of the fermented extracts were investigated to develop new cosmetic materials. The microorganisms used for fermentation were Bacillus coagulans KK7 strain, Lactobacillus brevis GJ26 strain, and Pediococcus acidilactici BDD10 strain isolated from Jeju. The antioxidant activities of the fermented and non-fermented pine needles extracts were evaluated by the DPPH radical scavenging activity. The DPPH radical scavenging activities of the fermented pine needles extracts were relatively higher than the non-fermented pine needles extracts. In order to examine whether the fermented pine needle extracts can be used as acne improvement materials, antibacterial tests were conducted on Cutibacterium acnes, Staphylococcus epidermidis and S. aureus. The antibacterial activities of the fermented and non-fermented pine needles extracts against C. acnes were confirmed, and the extracts of pine needles fermented by BDD10 strain showed better antibacterial activity compared to non-fermented pine needles extracts. These results suggest that fermented pine needles can be used as a new cosmetic material with antioxidant and antibacterial functions.