Shiseido Company, Limited

Toshii Iida

Masahiro Tajima

Hiroshi Okamoto

Koji Kobayashi

Mineyuki Yokoyama

Shoko Yamaguchi

Mitsuo Yanagi

Toshihiko Kaminuma

Yuka Fuse

Masaru Suetsugu

Jiro Kishimoto

Ohji Ifuku

Shinji Inomata

Osamu Tanaka

Yoshihiro Yokokawa

Mikiko Kaminuma

Ichiro Kato

Kiyotaka Kojima

Yuji Katsuta

Keiko Takada

The invention provides a parakeratosis inhibitor, pore-shrinking agent, or rough skin preventing/ameliorating agent that has a function such as parakeratosis inhibition, pore shrinkage, or rough skin-inhibition/abatement, poses no safety problems such as sensory irritation, and is very safe, and further provides an external composition for skin to which a compound having the above-mentioned function has been added. The parakeratosis inhibitor, pore-shrinking agent, or rough skin preventing/ameliorating agent comprises one or more compounds selected from the group consisting of &#x3b2;-alanine derivatives and salts thereof. The external composition for skin comprises the one or more compounds selected from the group consisting of &#x3b2;-alanine derivatives and salts thereof as the above-mentioned parakeratosis inhibitor, pore-shrinking agent, or rough skin preventing/ameliorating agent.

Parakeratosis inhibitor, pore-shrinking agent and external composition for skin

To provide a parakeratosis inhibitor, pore reducing agent and skin roughness preventing/ameliorating agent that exhibit capabilities of parakeratosis inhibition, pore reduction, skin roughness prevention/amelioration, etc., and further provide a skin preparation for external use having these capabilities. There are provide a parakeratosis inhibitor and a pore reducing agent each comprising at least one compound selected from the group consisting of a glycine derivative, an aminodicarboxylic acid derivative, an acylaminodicarboxylic acid derivative, a pyrrolidinecarboxylic acid derivative, a piperidinecarboxylic acid derivative, a hexamethyleneiminecarboxylic acid, a beta-alanine derivative and salts of these derivatives. Further, there are provided a parakeratosis inhibitor, a pore reducing agent and a skin roughness preventing/ameliorating agent each comprising at least one compound selected from the group consisting of specified glycine derivatives and salts thereof and specified aminosulfuric acid derivatives and salts thereof. Still further, there are provided skin preparations for external use comprising these compounds.

Parakeratosis inhibitor and skin preparation for external use

An object of the present invention is to determine novel means of activating plants; more particularly, means of controlling plant growth, such as means of promoting growth, means of controlling dormancy, means of imparting tolerance against stress for plants (dryness, high or low temperatures, osmotic pressure, etc.), and means of preventing aging. The present inventors have found that the above object can be achieved by providing plant activators containing, as an active ingredient, C-Cketol fatty acids, in particular, 9-hydroxy-10-oxo-12(Z),15(Z)-octadecadienoic acid.

Plant activator

&#x3b1;-Ketol unsaturated fatty acid derivatives represented by the following formula (1), &#x3b1;-ketol unsaturated fatty acid amide derivatives represented by the following formula (6), and plant growth regulators containing, as the active ingredient, at least one of these derivatives: wherein Rrepresents linear Calkyl; R represents hydrogen, etc.; Rrepresents hydrogen, etc.; Rrepresents hydrogen, etc.; Rrepresents hydrogen, etc.; n is an integer from 3 to 15; and the carbon atoms at the A- and B-positions may be in either (R)- or (S)-configuration; and wherein Rrepresents Calkyl, etc; Rrepresents hydrogen, etc.; Rrepresents &#x3b1;-ketolalkylene; and Rrepresents specific divalent linear hydrocarbyl.

Ketol fatty acid derivatives and plant growth regulators

&#x3b1;-Ketol unsaturated fatty acid derivatives represented by the following formula (1), &#x3b1;-ketol unsaturated fatty acid amide derivatives represented by the following formula (6), and plant growth regulators containing, as the active ingredient, at least one of these derivatives:wherein Rrepresents linear Calkyl; Rrepresents hydrogen, etc.; Rrepresents hydrogen, etc.; Rrepresents hydrogen, etc.; Rrepresents hydrogen, etc.; n is an integer from 3 to 15; and the carbon atoms at the A- and B-positions may be in either (R)- or (S)-configuration; andwherein Rrepresents Calkyl, etc; Rrepresents hydrogen, etc.; Rrepresents &#x3b1;-ketolalkylene; and Rrepresents specific divalent linear hydrocarbyl.

Ketol fatty acid derivative and plant growth regulating agents

A purified enzyme-I is obtained that participates in C-terminal amidation by acting on a peptide C-terminal glycine adduct to form a peptide C-terminal .alpha.-hydroxyglycine adduct. The enzyme has an optimum pH of about 5 to 7, an optimum temperature of 25 to 40.degree. C. and a molecular weight of about 25 kDa or about 36 kDa, and metal ions and ascorbic acid act as a cofactor. A purified enzyme-II is obtained that participates in C-terminal amidation by acting on the peptide C-terminal .alpha.-hydroxyglycine adduct to produce a C-terminal amidated compound. The enzyme has an optimum pH of about 5 to 6, an optimum temperature of 15 to 35.degree. C. and a molecular weight of about 40 kDa or about 43 kDa. Enzyme-I does not act on the peptide C-terminal .alpha.-hydroxyglycine adduct and enzyme-II does not act on the peptide C-terminal glycine adduct. The enzymes may be purified from a biological material such as horse serum by affinity chromatography using a peptide C-terminal glycine adduct as a ligand. The enzymes may also be obtained from host cells transformed with a plasmid containing a cDNA coding for the enzymes. Assay of activity of the enzymes is carried out by measuring the C-terminal .alpha.-hydroxyglycine adduct or the C-terminal amidated compound that has been isolated such as by high performance liquid chromatography with the use of an acetonitrile-containing buffer.

Method of preparing an enzyme participating in C-terminal amidation

Purified enzymes participating in C-terminal amidation

Process for purification of polypeptide using a buchner funnel

C-terminal amidating enzyme composition, process for preparing, and use

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Yokohama, Japan

Toshii Iida