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ADVERTISEMENT FEATURE COVER STORY: ASHLAND
Mitobiology™: healthy mitochondria for skin longevity
Longevity is a new lifestyle Longevity has become a new lifestyle mindset — one that values long-term vitality, resilience, and healthy aging over short-term fixes. In skincare, this evolution is shifting innovation toward mitochondrial health, now recognized as a key driver of skin youth and performance. One of the 4 key pillars of longevity lifestyle with nutrition, exercise, mental health is the night and the need for high quality sleep. To address this need at the level of the skin, Ashland has identified the main mechanism involved and defined the Mitobiology™ as the science of healthy mitochondria, focusing on preserving mitochondria dynamics & health through mitorestoration.
The hidden intelligence of the skin Mitochondria do not only power the cell. They communicate, signal, and even rescue one another. Far from being just powerhouses, they form an intelligent underground network essential to cellular rescue. They are now understood as central drivers of longevity and of all the 12 hallmarks of aging (Weissing 2025) orchestrating energy production, stress response, repair signaling, and cell survival pathways. As mitochondrial performance declines with age and environmental stress, skin cells progressively lose their ability to regenerate, protect, and maintain structural integrity accelerating visible signs of aging.
Ashland’s Iris Pallida root extract has been PERSONAL Dominika
Andrys on building beauty brands
Healthy
mitochondria for skin
longevity
designed to support this mitopeptide-driven mechanism to optimize mitobiology™ and newly mechanism identified as mitorestoration. Optimized through advanced selection and processing, iris extract is inspired by knowledge of humanin-related signaling pathways, reinforcing mitochondrial restoration.
THE HALLMARKS OF SKIN AGEING
Why vitamins will retain their critical role in skin longevity
MODULATING
Mitopeptide and mitorestoration, at the heart of mitobiology™ At the heart of this longevity pathway lies humanin, a mitochondrial-derived mitopeptide identified by Ashland as a universal longevity messenger. In recent research (Yen et al. 2020) Humanin has been found at elevated level in Blue’s Zone Centenarians, suggesting that the mitopeptide is a master regulator of healthspan and lifespan.
Reconstructed skin senescent model - humanin silencing
Sleep deeper, age slower Interestingly, this novel concept has recently emerged demonstrating that mitochondrial restoration happened preferentially during the night while nuclear restoration is more efficient during the day. During sleep, the melatonin has been shown to have antioxidant properties, to optimize mitochondrial membrane potential and to promote mitochondrial fusion (Richardson et al. 2023). Besides, it has been shown that circadian clock globally regulates mitochondrial morphology and energy metabolism (Schmitt et al. 2018). By optimizing Mitobiology™ and
mitorestoration through the humanin mitopeptide, this approach reflects the modern longevity lifestyle — proactive, science-driven, and focused on preserving skin youth at its biological core.
Longevity biohacker A new senescent skin model has been developed based on humanin gene expression silencing. Briefly, a customized humanin siRNA was transfected in human keratinocytes before making a reconstructed epidermis and the senescent status of the tissue was checked. Humanin protein level was first assessed on
Figure 1: humanin level in reconstructed skin senescent model treated with Iris pallida extract versus melatonin, ***: highly significant with Student t-test, mean +/- sem, n=6
Reconstructed skin senescent model - humanin silencing
this new model treated on overnight application. Melatonin was used as control of nighttime regulation process. 1% Iris pallida extract as well as 1 nM melatonin application were associated with an observed increase in humanin expression (+32%*** and +49%*** respectively) (figure 1). Then, this model was used to evaluate 2 keys
nighttime mitochondrial restoration processes: mitofusion and mitophagy, using MFN2 and PINK1 biomarkers. Hence, results showed a decrease level
associated with humanin silencing (by -24%*** and -12%* respectively), highlighting a possible role of humanin in these processes. 1% Iris pallida extract application was associated with an observed increase in MFN2 and PINK1 expressions, as melatonin (figure 2).
Reverses signs of biological age in vitro
Figure 2: MFN2 and PINK1 levels in reconstructed skin senescent model treated with Iris pallida extract versus melatonin,***: highly significant, *: significant with Student t-test, mean +/- sem, n=6
PERSONAL CARE MAGAZINE April 2026
Then, the senescence appearance was assessed in fibroblasts, treated every day from passage 7 (P7) to passage 30 (P30). The senescence was
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PREVIEW
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