Ichiko Fuyuno,TokyoCosmetics companies and scientistsaround the globe are expanding theirefforts to understand Asian skin prob-lems, a symposium was told earlierthis month.

Many skin treatments have beendeveloped for Caucasian women, butwomen in east Asia have different skin problems, say specialists. Theseinclude dark melanin spots, whichresult mainly from exposure to theSun’s ultraviolet rays.

On 11 December, 16 researchersfrom France and several Asian coun-tries addressed a symposium in Parisorganized by Moët Hennessy LouisVuitton (LVMH), a Paris-based com-pany specializing in luxury brands,including cosmetics. The researchersdescribed their latest findings on skinageing, the skin’s reaction to stress, andthose melanin spots.

“In the past, researchers just tried toget rid of spots that appeared on theskin,” says Hachiro Tagami, a derma-tologist at Japan’s Tohoku University inSendai.“But now they are trying to findout why spots develop.”

In general, researchers say, dark spotsappear when the activity of melanocytes isdisrupted, usually by excessive exposure toultraviolet light. Melanocytes are cells thatproduce the pigment melanin, and theiractivity levels help to determine the skin’scondition,as well as its colour.

Asian women find that melanin pigmentsdevelop in their facial skin at earlier ages than they occur in Caucasian women, sayresearchers, and that the activity of theirmelanocytes seems to be more sensitive tostress. But Asian skin retains more ofits tension and is less likely to wrinkle.

Researchers are now gaining insightinto the genetic and biochemical differences that might explain thesecontrasts.

In a collaboration with BordeauxUniversity, for example, workers atLVMH have come up with new data in the search to explain melanin spotformation. Beneath such spots, themelanocytes, which are usually foundin the epidermis, seem to sink into thedermis by disrupting the thin structurebetween the layers known as thedermo-epidermal junction (M. Cario-Andre et al. J. Cutan. Pathol. 31,441–447; 2004).

LVMH says it is developing thesefindings to launch a skincare range for east Asia under its Christian Dior brand. Meanwhile, cosmeticsresearchers at Procter & Gamble claim to have found a method ofcontrolling the transfer of melaninfrom melanocytes, using a substancecalled niacinamide. (T. Hakozaki et al.Br. J.Dermatol. 147, 20–31; 2002).

Regulators will be keeping a closeeye on the safety of these skin treat-ments, however. Last year, Japan’s

health ministry ordered 12 Japanese andforeign cosmetics companies to stop sellingproducts containing kojic acid, which isbelieved to reduce melanin levels in the skin.The agent’s cosmetic use was approved in1988, but animal tests have raised fears thatit may cause cancer. ■

news

Jim GilesFor sale: hundreds of Internet domainnames, all starting with ‘nano’. Vendorprefers to sell collection as a single unit —would suit large funding organization.

This curious offer is being made by SteveSobol, a US environmental consultant andInternet entrepreneur. Over the past twoyears, Sobol’s company ESH Sciences hassnapped up more than 900 domain names in the hope of selling the collection to anorganization such as the US NationalScience Foundation (NSF).

Trading in domain names can be bigbusiness. Speculators can register names for as little as US$7 a year and, if they choose well, resell for a considerable profit.One of this year’s biggest transactionsinvolved the domain name creditcards.com,which sold for $2.75 million. Such returns entice entrepreneurs to bag largenumbers of names in the hope that one

one reply: he was accused of ‘cyber-squatting’— a derogatory term for the practice ofbuying up domain names that should beowned by somebody else.

A partial list of Sobol’s domains,available on his website naknow.com,includes such oddities as ‘nanosociology’and ‘nanocrimelab’. He also holds at leastone name that corresponds to an actualresearch project: ‘Nanocmos’ is acollaboration into semiconductor researchfunded by the European Union. Projectleaders could choose to take Sobol to taskover the name, and apply to a tribunal to askthat the site be handed over at cost. But it isunclear whether such a move would besuccessful — or worth the effort. ■

Beauty spots: the skin of Asian and Caucasian women differs in its sensitivity to the Sun’s ultraviolet rays.

Spotlight turns on cosmetics for Asian skin

T.A

IZA

WA

/RE

UT

ER

S/N

EW

SCO

M

will turn out to be hot online property.“Domains with ‘nano’ in them haven’t

appeared in our charts of most costlynames,” says Ron Jackson, editor of DomainNames Journal, an online magazine. “Butnanotechnology has huge potential. That’swhy it’s worth locking up the domains forfuture use.”

Sobol, who describes the venture asproviding a “very good public service” with“some greed in there too”, declines to sayhow much his collection is on sale for. Buthe points out that nanorobotics.com iscurrently available from another source for$470, and says that nanocolor.com soldearlier this year for $3,300.

So far, Sobol has not had any offers forhis collection. He says he contacted the NSFin June 2003 about the names but receivedno reply. When he tried to attract attentionto his venture by advertising it on an onlinescience-discussion group, he received only

Nano names go on Internet sale in hope of mega profit

938 NATURE | VOL 432 | 23/30 DECEMBER 2004 | www.nature.com/nature

For more news and analysis go to

www.nature.com/news

23.12 News 938 NR 21/12/04 10:05 am Page 938

© 2004 Nature Publishing Group