Abstract
Recently many efforts were focused to understand the mechanical insights of melanogenesis to develop the agents for hyper-pigmentation and hypo-pigmentation. In the melanin biosynthetic pathway, tyrosinase is the rate limiting enzyme, and ${\alpha}$-melanocyte stimulating hormone(MSH) or cAMP-elevating agents stimulate melanogenesis and enhance the melanin synthesis and the tyrosinase activity. The author has analyzed the effects of Rhizoma Bletillae on the basal melanogenic activities of B16／F10 mouse melanoma cells, and on the ${\alpha}$-MSH or forskolin-induced melanogenesis. Rhizoma Bletillae alone markedly suppressed melanin content and tyrosinase activity in a dose-dependent manner. Pretreatment of the cells with Rhizoma Bletillae also suppressed the increase of ${\alpha}$-MSH (100 nM) or forskolin (20 ${\mu}M$)-induced melanin content and tyrosinase activity. The decrease in the tyrosinase activity was paralled by a decrease in the abundance of tyrosinase protein and tyrosinase promoter activity. Pretreatment of the cells with Rhizoma Bletillae also inhibited the increase of forskolin(20${\mu}M$) induced the amount of tyrosinase protein and tyrosinase promoter activity. The results of DOPA staining revealed that pretreatment of the cells with Rhizoma Bletillae showed less intensity than B16 melanoma cells stimulated with ${\alpha}$-MSH or forskolin. These results suggest that Rhizoma Bletillae inhibits melanogenesis and abrogates ${\alpha}$-MSH and cAMP-induced melanogenesis in B16 melanoma cells.
