A cure for aging, as yet unmet

Stem cells, most notably found in the tissue of developing fetuses, have the ability to develop into many types of tissue. Many labs are working on ways to cultivate them into specific tissues or substances that could be used to treat a variety of illnesses. Eventually, the cells could be coaxed into developing into liver, bone, skin or other tissues to replace missing, defective or diseased tissue.

But this research is in its infancy. Even if scientists figured out a way to get live stem cells into products, applying them to the skin -- and expecting them to work -- would be a lot to ask. "There is no conceivable way today that stem cells could be delivered in a topical product," Beer notes.

Instead, the products are designed to stimulate the skin's own stem cells, which are layered between the epidermis and dermis. These cells are constantly dividing, with newer cells slowly moving to the surface and older cells being shed from the top layer. As people age, this turnover process slows, causing the loss of elasticity, uniform color and other characteristics that give skin a youthful appearance. The goal of many skin-care manufacturers is to find substances that provoke adult skin stem cells to behave like younger cells, speeding up the skin-turnover cycle.

Amatokin's advertising material says the product is "made up of stem-cell activating properties" that can reduce wrinkles and that it "resets your skin's aging clock by a minimum of five years." The key ingredient is a peptide (a string of amino acids), says the creator of the preparation, Taras Nikolaev, a Russian scientist.

Capture contains a mixture of proteins, antioxidants and herbs that will keep "actively producing adult stem cells alive and able to continue to produce more collagen," says Dr. Neil Sadick, global medical advisor for Dior and a clinical professor of dermatology at Weill Cornell Medical College.

Perricone's StimulCell is made using adult skin cells, based on a cell line created by removing small pieces of undamaged skin from behind the ears of healthy young volunteers. These cells were grown in a culture and subjected to stresses that triggered the cells to secrete several substances, such as proteins and lipids. These components are then collected and put through filters to remove any viruses or foreign substances. The resulting dried powder is used in the cream.