Serbian Scientists Seeking Formula for Youth – Researching Process of Slowing of Aging at Faculty of Chemistry with Colleagues from Russia

Professors from the Faculty of Chemistry in Belgrade, in cooperation with their colleagues from the Department for Pharmaceutical and Toxicology Chemistry of the Pharmacy Institute at the First Moscow State Medical University, are working on discovering the best combination of plants for the making of a fully natural product that can slow down the aging of the skin. The project, named SAPORUS, is financed by the Science Fund of the Republic of Serbia, and the first results are expected next year.

In an interview for Novosti, Dr Petar Ristivojevic, an associate professor (“docent”) and the leader of the project, says that SAPORUS researches Russian and Serbian plants and develops an innovative analytic methodology to the end of finding the most active extracts and compounds from plants, responsible for the slowing down of the aging of the skin.

– We have tested plants from Serbia, such as basil, mint, St John's wort, wild thyme, pot marigold, plantain, rosemary, white mulberry, hawthorn, common agrimony, leaves of blackberry and raspberry, winter savory, rosehip, mountain germander, wall germander, yarrow, nettle and many others. Our colleagues from Moscow are testing the plants gathered in Siberia – says professor Ristivojevic.

As one of the end results, there will be findings about the most potent plant varieties from the aspect of cosmetics. The plant extracts which have generally shown to be the most active as antioxidants are the common agrimony, wall germander, mountain germander and hawthorn.

Novosti’s interviewee points out that the plan is to optimize new and innovative procedures for a cheap, quick and simple identification of the compounds of interest for the cosmetics industry. Sophisticated statistics and computer methods will be implemented in the research.

– The project is a good starting point for the development of high-quality plant-based products. The plan is to use a natural eutectic mixture as a solvent, instead of the conventional ones, whereby the natural conditions would be fully replicated. We plan to seek financial support for this kind of a product. The method of quick identification of bioactive compounds developed within this project is also applicable to other fields of research within the cosmetics, food and pharmaceutical industries – says Ristivojevic.

SAPORUS is the first phase in the development of the future product. After identifying several of the most active plant extracts, the plan is to do market research.

– The antioxidation activities of plant extracts and their combinations have been measured and compared so far – explains Ristivojevic.

The end product would be unique for the fact that it uses only the most active plant extracts, their most efficient combination.

In addition to Dr Ristivojevic, on the Serbian side, the team features another four researchers from the Faculty of Chemistry, who received education at universities throughout Europe in various fields of analytical, medical chemistry, as well as biochemistry. These are Dr Dusanka Milojkovic Opsenica, a full-time professor, Dr Jelena Trifkovic, an associate professor, Dr Ilija Cvijetic, an assistant professor with a PhD, and Dr Maja Krstic Ristivojevic, a research fellow.

Hemijski fakultet Beograd

Fond za nauku Republike Srbije

Faculty of Chemistry in Belgrade

Department for Pharmaceutical and Toxicology Chemistry of the Pharmacy Institute at the First Moscow State Medical University

Science Fund of the Republic of Serbia

Petar Ristivojević

Dušanka Milojković Opsenica

Jelena Trifković

Ilija Cvijetić

Maja Krstić Ristivojević

Moscow

Siberia

natural anti aging product

SAPORUS

plants

cosmetics industry

basil

mint

St John s wort

wild thyme

pot marigold

plantain

rosemary

white mulberry

hawthorn

common agrimony

blackberry leaves

raspberry leaves

winter savory

rosehip

mountain germander

wall germander

yarrow

nettle