Tyrosinase Inhibiting and DPPH Radical Scavenging Activities of Rosmarinic Acid and Its Methyl ester from Salvia miltiorrhiza

Rosmarinic acid (1) and methyl rosmarinic acid (2), isolated from the ethyl acetate soluble fraction of the methanolic extract of Salvia miltiorrhiza Bunge (Lamiaceae) were found to be the tyrosinase inhibitors and scavengers of 1, 1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrzyl (DPPH) radical. Compounds 1 and 2 inhibited the oxidation of L-tyrosine catalyzed by mushroom tyrosinase with $IC_{50}$/ of 16.8 $\mu\textrm{M}$ and 21.5 $\mu\textrm{M}$. respectively. It compared well with kojic acid. a well-known tyrosinase inhibitor. with an $IC_{50}$ of 22.4 $\mu\textrm{M}$. The inhibitory kinetics, analyzed by a Lineweaver-Burk plot, found rosmarinic acid and its methyl ester to be competitive inhibitors with $K_{i}$ of $2.35{\times}10^{-5}M$ and $1.52{\times}10^{-5}M$ respectively. In addition, compounds 1 and 2 showed the scavenging activities on DPPH radical, with $IC_{50}$ of 4.27 $\mu\textrm{M}$ and 3.05 $\mu\textrm{M}$. respectively. These scavenging effects were more potent than that of L-ascorbic acid ($IC_{50}$ = 11.75$\mu\textrm{M}$).