Maintaining more luminous skin is dependent upon your bodys unique ability to replace dead skin cells. This vital process of continuous self-renewal depends on the activity of epidermal stem cells.

The epidermis (upper skin layer) has been shown to replace itself in just 20 days in young adults, compared to 30 days in middle-aged adults.1 Unfortunately, this rate of renewal dramatically declines after age 50.

The exciting news is that the decline in the skins capacity to renew itself may be safely slowed or even reversed.

Researchers have found that when applied to the skin, a novel, patent-pending preparation of cultured stem cells derived from the Alpine rose may stimulate epidermal stem cell activity.2

In this article, epidermal stem cells role in skin beauty is detailed, along with supportive data on Alpine rose stem cells ability to activate the skins innate power of self-renewal.

The Alpine rose (Rhododendron ferrugineum) thrives in the Swiss Alps and the Pyrenees where it endures high altitudes, extreme cold, dry air, and high levels of ultra violet radiation.

This plants ability to withstand harsh environmental stress factors such as freezing temperatures, drought, and scorching UV rays prompted researchers to investigate the Alpine rose as a source of protection for human skin cells. Like the Alpine rose, human skin cells must resist a host of environmental stressors and lock in essential fluids. Skin that performs this barrier function well is more resilient and less likely to develop fine lines and wrinkles or show other signs of aging.

The skin functions as an essential barrier to protect the body from microbial invaders, toxins, the ravages of weather, dehydration, and mechanical trauma. This protective function is governed by stem cells. There are two broad classes of stem cells: pluripotent embryonic stem cells, which have the capacity to develop into any cell type, and adult stem cells, which can differentiate to become some or all of the specialized cell types present in a specific tissue or organ. The adult stem cells in the skin reside in the deepest layer of the epidermis, close to hair follicles.

Epidermal stem cells help to facilitate the turnover of all skin cells, replenishing their supply and maintaining a continuous equilibrium of skin cells in all stages of their life cycles. Epidermal stem cells have relatively slow turnover compared to other skin cell types, but it is their tremendous reproducing potential that gives the skin the remarkable capacity to renew itself completely.3 These types of stem cells also are vitally important for repairing the skin after injury and enabling wound healing.4

The researchers found that applying selected plant stem cell extracts to the skin, specifically those cultured from the Alpine rose, offers protection to the epidermal stem cells, prolonging their lives, increasing their colony-forming efficiency and enhancing their function. These potent plant stem cells from the Alpine rose appear to stimulate the skins own epidermal stem cell activity, revitalizing it and boosting its capacity for repair and self-renewal.

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Activate Self-Renewing Skin Stem Cells - Life Extension