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SCREENING OF PLANT EXTRACTS FOR HUMAN TYROSINASE INHIBITING EFFECTS.

Kim1, M., Park1, J., Song1, K., Kim2, H.G., Koh2, J.-S. and Boo1, Y.C. 1Department of Molecular Medicine and Cell and Matrix Research Institute, BK21 Medical Education Program for Human Resources, Kyungpook National University School of Medicine, Daegu and 2Dermapro Skin Research Center, Dermapro Co. Ltd., Seoul, Korea.
Abstract

Screening for tyrosinase (TYR) inhibitors potentially useful for control of skin pigmentation has been hampered by the limited availability of human TYR. To overcome this hurdle, we have established human embryonic kidney (HEK293)-TYR cells that constitutively express human TYR. In the current study, we assayed human TYR inhibition activities of 50 plant extracts using the lysates of transformed HEK293-TYR cells. The strongest inhibition of human TYR was shown by the extract of Vaccinium bracteatum Thunberg, followed by the extract of Morus bombycis Koidzumi. The former extract did not inhibit mushroom TYR activity whereas significant inhibition was observed with the latter extract, demonstrating the importance of using human TYR in the screening for human TYR inhibitors. Upon liquid-liquid partitioning of the extract from V. bracteatum, the active constituents were enriched in the ethyl acetate fraction, and the subsequent preparatory thinlayer chromatography identified p-coumaric acid (PCA) as the main active constituent. The hypo-pigmentation of PCA was verified in the MelanoDerm™ Skin Model. This study demonstrates that transformed HEK293-TYR cells could expedite the discovery of human TYR-specific inhibitors from natural sources which might be useful in the control of skin pigmentation.

Keywords

MEL-300-B, melanin content, Skin lightening, tyrosinase inhibitors

Materials Tested

Arbutin, p-coumaric acid, plant extracts, Propylene glycol

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