Effect of Low Molecular Weight Silk Fibroin on the Inhibition of Tyrosinase Activity

Low molecular weight silk fibroin (LMSF), which was prepared by hydrolysis of silk fibroin using high-temperature and high-pressure method, was found to inhibit the oxidation of L-3,4,-dihydroxyphenylalanine (L-DOPA) catalyzed by mushroom tyrosinase (EC 1.14.18.1). LMSF contained mostly free amino acids such as L-glycine, L-alanine, and L-serine and oligopeptides, mainly glycine-alanine dimer. As a result of analyzing the inhibition kinetics from Lineweaver-Burk plots, L-glycine and glycine-alanine dimer showed noncompetitive behavior while uncompetitive behavior was observed in L-alanine, and L-serine. When weight percent concentration of ${ID_50}$ was compared, L-glycine was most effective on the inhibition and LMSF was also good enough for the inhibition effect of tyrosinase activity. LMSF showed a mixed-type inhibition and the inhibitory mechanism of LMSF might be caused by free amino acids and oligopeptides. As a result of spectroscopic observation with time, initial rate of increase of DOPAchrome decreased remarkably and the time to reach maximum absorbance increased as an increase of the concentration of L-glycine, meaning that L-glycine made itself mainly responsible for the formation of chelate with ${Cu^2+}$ in tyrosinase. However, in case of L-alanine, L-serine, and especially glycine-alanine dimmer, the production of DOPAchrome after an arrival at maximum absorbance decreased, indicating the production of adducts through the reaction with DOPAquinone.