• Proceedings of the Plant Resources Society of Korea Conference
• /
• 2019.04a
• /
• pp.21-22
• /
• 2019

Melanin is a mixture of pigmented biopolymers synthesized by epidermal melanocytes that determine the skin, eye, and hair colors. Melanocytes produce two different kinds of melanin, eumelanin (dark brown/black insoluble pigments found in dark skin and dark hair and pheomelanin (lighter red/yellow). The biological role of melanin is to prevent skin damage by ultraviolet (UV) radiation. However, the overproduction or deficiency of melanin synthesis could lead to serious dermatological problems, which include melasma, melanoderma, lentigo, and vitiligo. Therefore, regulating melanin production is important to prevent the pigmentation disorders. Myanmar has a rich in natural resources. However, the chemical constituents of these natural resources in Myanmar have not been fully investigated. In the effort to search for compounds with anti-melanin deposition activity from Myanmar natural resources, five plants were collected in Myanmar. Extracts of these collected five plants were tested for anti-melanin deposition activity against a mouse melanoma cell line (B16-F10) induced with ${\alpha}$-melanocyte-stimulating hormone (${\alpha}$-MSH) and 3-isobutyl-1-methylxanthine (IBMX), and their anti-melanin deposition activities were compared with the positive control, arbutin. Among the tested extracts, the CHCl3 extracts of the Premna serratifolia (syn: P. integrifolia) wood showed anti-melanin deposition activities with IC50 values of $81.3{\mu}g/mL$. Hence, this study aims to identify secondary metabolites with anti-melanin deposition activity from P. serratifolia wood of Myanmar. P. serratifolia belongs to the Verbenaceae family and is widely distributed in near western sea coast from South Asia to South East Asia, which include India, Malaysia, Vietnam, Cambodia, and Sri Lanka. People in Tanintharyi region located in the southern part of Myanmar utilize the P. serratifolia, Sperethusa crenulata, Naringi crenulata, and Limonia acidissima as Thanaka, traditional cosmetics in Myanmar. Thanaka is applied in the form of paste onto skins to make it smooth and clear, as well as to prevent wrinkles, skin aging, excessive facial oil, pimples, blackheads, and whiteheads. However, the chemical constituents responsible for their cosmetic properties are yet to be identified. Moreover, the chemical constituents of P. serratifolia was almost uncharacterized. Investigation of the P. serratifolia chemical constituents is thus an attractive endeavor to discover new anti-melanin deposition active compounds. The investigation of the chemical constituents of the active CHCl3 extract of P. serratifolia led to isolation of four new lignoids, premnan A (1), premnan B (2), taungtangyiol C (3), and 7,9-dihydroxydolichanthin B (4), together with premnan C (5) (assumed to be an artifact), one natural newlignoid,(3R,4S)-4-(1,3-benzodioxol-5-ylcarbonyl)-3-[(R)-1-(1,3-benzo dioxol-5-yl)-1-hydroxy methyl]tetrahydro-2-furanone (6), and five known compounds (7-11)1,2). The structures of all isolated compounds were determined on the basis of their spectroscopic data and by comparison with the reported literatures. The absolute configurations of 1-3 and 5 were also determined by optical rotation and circular dichroism (CD) data analyses1). The anti-melanin deposition activities of all the isolated compounds were evaluated against B16-F10 cell line. 7,9-Dihydroxydolichanthin B (4) and ($2{\alpha},3{\alpha}$)-olean-12-en-28-oic acid (11) showed strong anti-melanin deposition activities with IC50 values of 18.4 and $11.2{\mu}M$, respectively, without cytotoxicity2). On the other hand, compounds 1-3, 5, and 7 showed melanogenesis enhancing activities1). To better understand their anti-melanin deposition mechanism, the effects of 4 and 11 on tyrosinase activities were investigated. The assay indicated that compounds 4 and 11 did not inhibit tyrosinase. Furthermore, we also examined the mRNA expression of microphthalmia-associated transcription factor (MITF), tyrosinase (TYR), tyrosinase-related protein-1 (TRP-1), and tyrosinase-related protein-2 (TRP-2). Compounds 4 and 11 down-regulated the expression of Tyr and Mitf mRNAs, respectively. Although the P. serratifolia wood has been used as traditional cosmetics in Myanmar for centuries, there are no scientific evidences to support its effectiveness as cosmetics. Investigation of the anti-melanin deposition activity of the chemical constituents of P. serratifolia thus provided insight into the effectiveness of the P. serratifolia wood as a cosmetic agent.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Agriculture
• /
• v.18 no.2
• /
• pp.126-134
• /
• 1999

To provide the basic information for the water improvement and control of water resource in Nakdong river districts, the physico-chemical characteristics of water in four main streams and three branch streams of the river were investigated through 36 times totally, one time per each month from January in 1995 to November in 1997. The pH values of each sites in main or branch stream of Nakdong river was pH $6.3{\sim}9.3$ range, pH range of Jukpo and Namji area at spring and fall was almost over pH 8.5, which was exceeded the water quality standard for agriculture. DO values of Nakdong river was almost $8.0{\sim}13mg/l$, except for Kangchang area in downstream of Kumho river. BOD values in Dasa area where was prior to mixing of Kumho river was $1.5{\sim}4.8mg/l$, which was under the water quality standard for agriculture(8mg/l), but BOD values followed mixing of Kumho river was over the permit standard of agricultural water as $3.8{\sim}8.9mg/l$ in Koryung, $3.4{\sim}8.4mg/l$ in Jukpo and $3.3{\sim}7.8mg/l$ in Namji according to time or season. Especially, BOD values at Gangchang area in Kumho river were $7.6{\sim}18.5mg/l$, which was over the water quality standard for agriculture and so Kumho river was a main pollutant: source of Nakdong river. COD values of main stream of Nakdong river was over the permit standard of agriculture(8mg/l) as $5.2{\sim}13.5mg/l$ in Koryvng, $5.0{\sim}12.7mg/l$ in Jukpo and $5.0{\sim}12.2mg/l$ in Namji according to time or season. And COD values was much high rather than BOD values and its gap of concentration was increased along with downstream. $NH_4-N$ of main stream of Nakdong river followed mixing of Kumho river($0.5{\sim}13.1mg/l$) was the highest affected in Koryung($0.18{\sim}5.0mg/l$) and detected much more in winter than in summer. T-N in Koryung($4.96{\sim}12.06mg/l$) followed mixing of Kumho river was significantly high rather than $2.86{\sim}4.86mg/l$ in Dasa, $4.20{\sim}8.20mg/l$ in Jukpo and $3.18{\sim}8.64mg/l$ in Namji, which was almost over the permit standard of agricultural water(1.0mg/l). T-P in Koryung($0.10{\sim}0.58mg/l$) also was significantly high rather than those $0.07{\sim}0.36mg/l$ in Jukpo and $0.08{\sim}0.4mg/l$ in Namji as over the standard of agricultural water(0.1mg/l). The concentration of T-N or T-P in Nakdong districts was trended of increasing in every year.