Studies Of Chinese Herbs Affecting Melanin Biosynthesis In Vitro

Recently, the desire and demands to treat hyperpigmentary diseases are becoming emerging, so it is interesting to look for depigmentation agents from Chinese herbs. The previous study of depigmentation agents were mainly focused on tyrosinase, the initial enzyme of melanin biosynthesis, however, other fields related to melanogenesis were little studied. In fact, the process of melanin pathway is complicated. The pigmentary pathway is not only related to tyrosinase, but also to dopachrome autoxidation, DOPA autoxidation, free radicals, ultraviolet, and the degradation of melanin. In this study, 208 Chinese crude herbs were screened by the assay of the tyrosinase inhibition, 23 of them were selected to be further investigated by anti-dopachrome autoxidation activity, SOD-like activity, free-radical scavenging activity, anti-DOPA autoxidation activity, anti-ultraviolet catalysis activity, and promoting degradation of melanin. Then the mechanism of tyrosinase inhibition was studied using 21 Chinese crude herbs with potent tyrosinase inhibition activity. In order to further develop and apply Chinese crude herbs and compounds, the active component of some Chinese crude herbs were investigated, and the tyrosinase inhibition of 13 compounds derived from Chinese crude herbs above were also studied.