Photoprotector Effect of Emulsions with Yerba-Mate (Ilex paraguariensis) Extract

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

In this present manuscript, Juliana et al. described the potential use of yerba-mate extracts on sunscreen formulations entitled " Photoprotector effect of emulsions with yerba-mate (Ilex para- guariensis) extract" in the field of pharmaceutical formulations comprising of an extract of Ilex paraguariensis. This similar pattern of work has been already published in previous literature. The material presented in this publication is only a minor refinement of previously published work. Authors claimed that this research is the “first time the potential use of yerba-mate extracts on sunscreen formulations”. I wonder whether authors are well aware of the literatures where the details of the formulation of the emulsions with yerba-mate were reported more than a decade ago (Cosmetic and/or pharmaceutical formulations comprising an extract of Ilex Paraguariensis, WO2010118489A1). Later on, Camila et al. also reported (Journal of Photochemistry & Photobiology, B: Biology 189 (2018) 95–103), the formulation containing the Ilex Paraguariensis A. St.-Hil. (Yerba mate, YM) extract showed a potential photo-chemoprotective. Even some of the marketed sunscreen’s active ingredients are yerba-mate (Ilex Paraguariensis), and avobenzone.

 

Comments for author File: Comments.pdf

Author Response

In this present manuscript, Juliana et al. described the potential use of yerba-mate extracts on sunscreen formulations entitled" Photoprotector effect of emulsions with yerba-mate (Ilex paraguariensis) extract" in the field of pharmaceutical formulations comprising of an extract of Ilex paraguariensis. This similar pattern of work has been already published in previous literature. The material presented in this publication is only a minor refinement of previously published work. Authors claimed that this research is the “first time the potential use of yerba-mate extracts on sunscreen formulations”. I wonder whether authors are well aware of the literatures where the details of the formulation of the emulsions with yerba-mate were reported more than a decade ago (Cosmetic and/or pharmaceutical formulations comprising an extract of Ilex Paraguariensis, WO2010118489A1). Later on, Camila et al. also reported (Journal of Photochemistry & Photobiology, B: Biology 189 (2018) 95–103), the formulation containing the Ilex Paraguariensis A. St.-Hil. (Yerba mate, YM) extract showed a potential photo-chemoprotective. Even some of the marketed sunscreen’s active ingredients are yerba-mate (Ilex Paraguariensis), and avobenzone.

Thank you for your careful manuscript reading and for approving our work. We performed all the corrections suggested and they are highlighted in the manuscript. The reference from Camila et al. was properly cited in our text and the originality of our work was critically reanalyzed. Please see that the article produced by Camila et al, investigated the in vivo effect of formulations with yerba-mate, however the FPS value of topic formulations with yerba-mate as well its photoprotective effect on resveratrol degradation never were published.

Author Response File: Author Response.docx

Reviewer 2 Report

Dear Authors,

Article entitled "Photoprotector effect of emulsions with yerba-mate (Ilex para-guariensis) extract". I read with interest. I believe that the conducted research has a great cognitive value as well as utilitarian significance. The applied screening methods made it possible to achieve the set goals. Notes and comments are listed below. Authors should take them into account when preparing the manuscript for publication.

 

Introduction

In this part of the article, the style of some sentences should be corrected and the presented content should be organized so that it constitutes a logical whole.

·         Lack of prior information in the literature about Yerba-mate

·         What about the toxicity of the extract that was examined "does it not contain toxic compounds that may be harmful to health?"

·         Figure 1: All chemical filters employed in sunscreens formulations should be cited.

·         Figure 2: All of the polyphenols found in yerba-mate leaves should be cited.

 

Material and methods

This section requires additions and corrections.

·         Page 3: please cite and provide a more detailed description (how the extraction method was carried out, how much substrate was used ...

·         Please provide the water activity for which the plant was dried and the water content after the drying process is completed. These are very important parameters determining the quality of the obtained dried material and thus its durability.

·         Page 4 Lines 89, 90: “Were obtained 9 formulations with increasing concentrations of yerba-mate extracts 89 and/ or avobenzone as depicted in the Table 1”; Table 1 did not show the formulations and concentrations of yerba-mate extracts and avobenzone.

·         Page 4: “Formulations preparations” please cite this method, and provide the role of phase C in the emulsion formation?

·         Page 4: Please cite the parallel-plate method used for determining spreadability and add how the spreading value is calculated.

·         Page 5 Line 122: Check the abbreviations throughout the manuscript and introduce the abbreviation when the full word appears the first time in the text and then use only the abbreviation e.g. SPF, UVA, UVB...

·         Page 4 Lines 112, 119: please give standardized time abbreviations (h, min…)

·         Page 5 Lines 128, 129: “The values of EE and I were previously determined by Sayre 1978 and are available in their article [17]”, there are several references that need updating.

·         Page 5 Line 130:  you must explain all the equations symbols below the equation.

 

Results and discussion

This part of the article should have been presented better; the results should have been interpreted with greater insight.

·         Lines 173-177 - please write something more about the research results of the cited authors (this information is very general).

·         Page 8 Line 221: “3.3. Characterization and stability” please add subheadings to the paragraphs described in this section.

·         Page 8 Line 221: “3.3. Characterization and stability” there is no discussion in this part of the manuscript.

·         Figures 4, 6, 7: please write the meaning of all symbols in the figure: for example “0” initial pH, “A”, “YM”…etc.

·         Figure 6 Lines 257-259: add in parentheses the types of environmental and stress conditions used.

 

Conclusion

Please complete the conclusion or, if necessary, add in the discussion the practical application of the tested plant. Based on the results obtained in the study, should human or animal studies be performed to confirm the medicinal properties of the test plant?

 

References

I would like to point out that in order to standardize the notation of cited literature; it should comply with the Journal's requirements. Currently, the authors sometimes give the full name of the journals, other times their abbreviated notation.

 

 

Comments for author File: Comments.docx

Author Response

Article entitled "Photoprotector effect of emulsions with yerba-mate (Ilex paraguariensis) extract". I read with interest. I believe that the conducted research has a great cognitive value as well as utilitarian significance. The applied screening methods made it possible to achieve the set goals. Notes and comments are listed below. Authors should take them into account when preparing the manuscript for publication.

Thank you for your careful manuscript reading and approving our work We performed all the corrections suggested and they are highlighted in the manuscript. 

 

Introduction

In this part of the article, the style of some sentences should be corrected and the presented content should be organized so that it constitutes a logical whole.

Thank you for your comment. The introduction was fully revised aiming to make it more logical and coherent.

 

Lack of prior information in the literature about Yerba-mate

Thank you for your comment. The plant was clearly presented in relation to its use and phytochemical composition. In addition, the use of the yerba-mate extracts in some foods was approached in the introduction. Please let us know if there are more specific aspects to be described in the introduction.

What about the toxicity of the extract that was examined "does it not contain toxic compounds that may be harmful to health?"

Thank you for your comment. Some points about the toxicity of yerba-mate extracts were depicted in the introduction.

 

Figure 1: All chemical filters employed in sunscreens formulations should be cited.

Thank you for your comment. Please see that is out of our scope to make an exhaustive review about all the photoprotective agents, aiming for the rational use of pages of the journal. Our aim is limited to showing structural features that are common to the chemical filters and metabolites found in the yerba-mate extract. We believe that the chemical structures depicted in figures 1 and 2, make it a suitable way.

 

Figure 2: All of the polyphenols found in yerba-mate leaves should be cited.

Thank you for your comment. Please see that is out of our aim to make an exhaustive review of all the polyphenols found in yerba-mate. This point was extensively described in excellent reviews articles, such as https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foodres.2018.10.091 and https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1750-3841.2007.00535.x, the first of them is cited in the manuscript.

 

Material and methods

This section requires additions and corrections.

Page 3: please cite and provide a more detailed description (how the extraction method was carried out, how much substrate was used ...

Thank you for your comment. The mass of the leaves was added to the manuscript. Please let us know if you find others information to be added to the text.

 

Please provide the water activity for which the plant was dried and the water content after the drying process is completed. These are very important parameters determining the quality of the obtained dried material and thus its durability.

Thank you for your comment. Please see that is out of our aim to study the water activity and stability of the extract. The extracts were used in the formulations immediately after the removal of all the water by lyophilization.

 

Page 4 Lines 89, 90: “Were obtained 9 formulations with increasing concentrations of yerba-mate extracts 89 and/ or avobenzone as depicted in Table 1”; Table 1 did not show the formulations and concentrations of yerba-mate extracts and avobenzone.

Thank you for your comment. These data are shown only in table 2. Apologize to us for this issue.

 

Page 4: “Formulations preparations” please cite this method, and provide the role of phase C in the emulsion formation?

Thank you for your comment. The method used is a classical approach in cosmetical preparations. Phase C has as a component only imidazolidinyl urea, which acts as an antimicrobial preservative. This is a sense of common information, usually not cited in similar scientific articles.

 

Page 4: Please cite the parallel-plate method used for determining spreadability and add how the spreading value is calculated.

Thank you for your comment. A suitable reference about this method was cited in the manuscript. Please see reference 19: Borghetti, G.S.; Knorst, M.T. Development and evaluation of physical stability from o/w lotions containing sunscreens. Revista Brasileira de Ciências Farmacêuticas 2006, 42, 531-537.

 

Page 5 Line 122: Check the abbreviations throughout the manuscript and introduce the abbreviation when the full word appears the first time in the text and then use only the abbreviation e.g. SPF, UVA, UVB...

Thank you for your comment. The abbreviations were checked in all the text.

 

Page 4 Lines 112, 119: Please give standardized time abbreviations (h, min…)

Thank you for your comment. The suggestion was fully attended.

 

Page 5 Lines 128, 129: “The values of EE and I were previously determined by Sayre 1978 and are available in their article [17]”, there are several references that need updating.

Thank you for your comment. We verified this aspect and many articles about the theme make the citation of this reference. We choose to cite the first reference of the authors who developed the method, aiming to give visibility to their investigation and originality.

 

Page 5 Line 130:  you must explain all the equations symbols below the equation.

Thank you for your comment. Please see that all the definitions of variables and constants of equation 1 are clearly described above it in the manuscript text.

 

Results and discussion

This part of the article should have been presented better; the results should have been interpreted with greater insight.

 

Lines 173-177 - please write something more about the research results of the cited authors (this information is very general).

Thank you for your comment. We believe that reported the main conclusion of Barg’s manuscript.

 

Page 8 Line 221: “3.3. Characterization and stability” please add subheadings to the paragraphs described in this section.

Thank you by your comment. We believe that reporting these results together makes easier their understanding.

 

Page 8 Line 221: “3.3. Characterization and stability” there is no discussion in this part of the manuscript.

Thank you for your comment. This point was better discussed.

 

Figures 4, 6, 7: please write the meaning of all symbols in the figure: for example “0” initial pH, “A”, “YM”…etc.

Thank you for your comment. These symbols were defined in the figure caption.

 

Figure 6 Lines 257-259: add in parentheses the types of environmental and stress conditions used.

Thank you for your comment. The stress conditions were defined in the caption of the figure.

 

Conclusion

Please complete the conclusion or, if necessary, add to the discussion the practical application of the tested plant. Based on the results obtained in the study, should human or animal studies be performed to confirm the medicinal properties of the test plant?

Thank you for your comment. A sentence about this aspect was added to the conclusion.

 

References

I would like to point out that in order to standardize the notation of cited literature; it should comply with the Journal's requirements. Currently, the authors sometimes give the full name of the journals, other times their abbreviated notation.

Thank you for your comment. The references were verified.

 

Author Response File: Author Response.docx

Reviewer 3 Report

In row 19 include "It was" instead of "Was"

In row 82, it is suggested to substitute "After" with "Then" and "to maceration" instead of "to the maceration"

In row 89 substitute "Were obtained 9 formulations" with "Nine formulations were obtained"  

In Table 1, the quantities of phases A, B and C for making the emulsion are not specified. 

 

Author Response

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

Thank you for your careful manuscript reading and for approving our work. We performed all the corrections suggested and they are highlighted in the manuscript. 

 

In row 19 include "It was" instead of "Was"

Thank you for your comment. The correction was performed.

 

In row 82, it is suggested to substitute "After" with "Then" and "to maceration" instead of "to the maceration"

Thank you for your comment. The correction was performed.

 

In row 89 substitute "Were obtained 9 formulations" with "Nine formulations were obtained"  

Thank you for your comment. The correction was performed.

In Table 1, the quantities of phases A, B and C for making the emulsion are not specified. 

Thank you for your comment. This information was added to the methodology.

Author Response File: Author Response.docx

Round 2

Reviewer 1 Report

In this present manuscript, Juliana et al. described the potential use of yerba-mate extracts on sunscreen formulations entitled " Photoprotector effect of emulsions with yerba-mate (Ilex paraguariensis) extract" in the field of pharmaceutical formulations comprising of an extract of Ilex paraguariensis. The quality of the work has been improved but before publication to any journal authors are suggested to perform the viscosity of the cream formulations with, and without the yerba-mate extract and/or avobenzone as active agents during the stability testing period. 

Author Response

# REVIEWER 1

In this present manuscript, Juliana et al. described the potential use of yerba-mate extracts on sunscreen formulations entitled " Photoprotector effect of emulsions with yerba-mate (Ilex paraguariensis) extract" in the field of pharmaceutical formulations comprising of an extract of Ilex paraguariensis. The quality of the work has been improved but before publication to any journal authors are suggested to perform the viscosity of the cream formulations with, and without the yerba-mate extract and/or avobenzone as active agents during the stability testing period. 

Thank you for your careful manuscript reading and for approving our work. We are thrilled with your perception about the improvements in the current version of our manuscript. We found your suggestion about viscosity investigation very suitable and interesting, and it certainly will be implemented in future experiments. However, unfortunately, due to the short time of this step of the editorial process, it is impracticable. We are making new tests of sunscreens formulations and in the current works we will consider a more detailed investigation of rheological behavior.  

Author Response File: Author Response.docx