• Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
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• v.35 no.5
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• pp.417-425
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• 2009

The purpose of this study was to investigate the whitening effect of Angelicae dahuricae Radix water extract (ADWE) by its application on artificial tanning spots which were induced by 1,500 $mJ/cm^2$ of UVB radiation on the backs of brown guinea pigs weighing approximately 450~500 g. Thirty ${\mu}l$ of ADWE, at each application, were applied twice a day, 5 days a week, for 8 weeks to the guinea pigs. The artificial tanning spots were divided into 3 groups which were vehicle control group [propylene glycol: ethanol: water (5:3:2)], positive control group (2% hydroquinone) and experimental group (2% ADWE). The visible whitening effect and changes in melanin index were evaluated once a week. On completion of the experiment, the animals were sacrificed under anesthetization, and the artificial tanning spots were excised by biopsy punch and stained with Hematoxylin and Eosin (H&E) to observe histological change and also stained with Fontana-Masson's silver (F-M) and S-100 to observe melanin pigmentation and melanocytes. In the gross observation, the experimental group showed higher pigmentation than the positive control group but lower pigmentation than the vehicle control group. Histological observation confirmed that ADWE had a positive whitening effect by showing a lower distribution of melanin and melanocytes in the epidermis of experimental group than in the vehicle control group.

• The Journal of Korean Medicine Ophthalmology and Otolaryngology and Dermatology
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.59-71
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• 2004

Melanin pigmentation has an essential role in protecting human skin against the damaging effects of ultra violet radiation, infection, environmental factor, etc. However abnormal melanin pigmentation can directly cause a number of congenital and acquired pigmentary skin disease. This study conducted to evaluate the effects of various partition extracts of Codonopsis lanceolata on the melanogenesis in the B 16 melanoma cells. The cells were treated for 3 days with various partition extracts of Codonopsis lanceolata. While treatment with the BuOH partition extract of Codonopsis lanceolata increased significantly the tyrosinase activity and melanin content, the n-Hexane or ethyl acetate partition extract dose-dependently suppressed them compared with untreated control. But ethyl acetate partition significantly decreased the cell viability. The H2O partiton extract at various concentrations did not exhibit any significant change on the melanogenesis. These results indicate that treatment with the n-Hexane partition extract inhibits the melanogenesis in B16 melanoma cells, and raise the possibility that this extract may be effective in the abnormal melanin pigmentation as well as the whitening agent for the skin.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.28 no.12
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• pp.2121-2132
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• 2018

Abnormal melanin synthesis results in several hyperpigmentary disorders such as freckles, melanoderma, age spots, and other related conditions. In this study, we investigated the anti-melanogenic effects of an extract from the microalgae Chlamydomonas reinhardtii (CE) and potential mechanisms responsible for its inhibitory effect in B16F10, normal human epidermal melanocyte cells, and human skin-equivalent models. The CE extract showed significant dose-dependent inhibitory effects on ${\alpha}$-melanocyte-stimulating, hormone-induced melanin synthesis in cells. Additionally, the CE extract exhibited suppressive effects on the mRNA and protein expression of microphthalmia-associated transcription factor, tyrosinase, tyrosinase-related protein-1, and tyrosinase-related protein-2. The CE extract also inhibited the phosphorylation of protein kinase A and extracellular signal-related kinase, which function as upstream regulators of melanogenesis. Using a three-dimensional, reconstructed pigmented epidermis model, the CE-mediated, anti-pigmentation effects were confirmed by Fontana-Masson staining and melanin content assays. Taken together, CE extract can be used as an anti-pigmentation agent.

• The Journal of Korean Medicine Ophthalmology and Otolaryngology and Dermatology
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• v.16 no.1
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• pp.100-111
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• 2003

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 mouse melanoma cells. Rhizoma Bletillae alone markedly suppressed melanin content and tyrosinase activity in a dose-dependent manner. Pretreatment of the cells with Rhizoma Bletillae. The decrease in the tyrosinase activity was paralled by a decrease in the abundance of tyrosinase protein and tyrosinase promoter activity. These results suggest that Rhizoma Bletillae inhibits melanogenesis of B16 melanoma cells via suppression of tyrosinase activity.

• YAKHAK HOEJI
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• v.41 no.4
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• pp.456-461
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• 1997

Tyrosinase is known to accelerate the melanin polymer biosynthesis in melanocyte, so tyrosinase inhibitors hinder the melanin polymer biosynthesis and are useful not only for th e material used in cosmetics as skin-whitening agents but also as the remedy for disturbances in pigmentation. During our search for new melanin biosynthesis inhibitors from natural sources, 130 higher plants were tested for the inhibitory effect against tyrosinase activity by the mushroom tyrosinase assay. Among them, Carex humilis ($IC_{50}$, 10vg/ml), Sophora flavescence ($IC_{50},\;20{\sim}50{mu}g/ml$) and Styrax japonica ($IC_{50},\;10{\mu}g/ml$) inhibited the tyrosinase activity strongly.

• Journal of Korea Multimedia Society
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• v.16 no.9
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• pp.1044-1056
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• 2013

This paper presents an approach for detecting and measuring human skin pigmentation. In the proposed scheme, we extract a skin area by a GMM-EM clustering based skin color model that is estimated from the statistical analysis of training images and remove tiny noises through the morphology processing. A skin area is decomposed into two components of hemoglobin and melanin by an independent component analysis (ICA) algorithm. Then, we calculate the intensities of hemoglobin and melanin by using the projection transformed block coefficient and determine the existence of skin pigmentation according to the global and local distribution of two intensities. Furthermore, we measure the area and density of the detected skin pigmentation. Experimental results verified that our scheme can both detect the skin pigmentation and measure the quantity of that and also our scheme takes less time because of the location histogram.

• Journal of Applied Biological Chemistry
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• v.58 no.3
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• pp.266-271
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• 2015

Recently many effort focused to understand the mechanical insights of melanogenesis to develop the agent for hyper-pigmentation. So this study was performed to investigate the depigmentation of Vitex rotundifolia. With B16F10 mouse melanoma cell, we have seen inhibition of the tyrosinase, MITF, TRP-1, TRP-2, and melanin synthesis, which eventually were dose dependently decreased by Vitex rotundifolia. Specially, Vitex rotundifolia decreased the protein levels of tyrosinase and TRP-1. In conclusion, Vitex rotundifolia showed the whitening activity in all the experiments mentioned above and we expect that it can be used for preventing melanin synthesis.

• Proceedings of the PSK Conference
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• 2003.10b
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• pp.215.2-215.2
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• 2003

Tyrosinase is an important enzyme involved in the transition steps from tyrosine to melanin. Inhibition of the tyrosinase activity could block melanin formation from tyrosine and thus prevent melanin pigmentation on skin. This may contribute to the development of new whitening agent that would be useful in the prevention of pigmentation. in this study, we isolated tyrosinase inhibitory compound from BuOH fraction of Potentilla bifurca L. var. glabrata Lehm by activity guided fractionation method. Based on spectroscopic data, the active compound was identified as a quercetin 4"-O- glucopyranoside.

• Journal of the Society of Cosmetic Scientists of Korea
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• v.30 no.1
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• pp.33-38
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• 2004

Melanin pigmentation in human skin is a major defense mechanism against ultraviolet light of the sun, but abnormal pigmentation such as freckles, liver spot could be a serious aesthetic problem. Nearly all studies are mainly concentrated on searching for the materials that have inhibitory activities on tyrosinase. In this work, to isolate phenolic compounds from Gastrodia elata, we purified the extract through solvent fractionation, column chromatography, and recrystallization. They were identified as 4-hydroxybenzyl alcohol 1, bis(4-hydroxyphenyl)methane 2, gastrodin (4-${\beta}$-D-glucopyranosyloxybenzyl alcohol) 3 on the base of spectroscopic evidences. In order to investigate their depigmentation effect, inhibitory activity against mushroom tyrosinase and inhibitory activity of melanin synthesis in B16 melanoma cells were evaluated in vitro. We have found that 4-hydroxybenzyl alcohol 1 and gastrodin (4- ${\beta}$-D-glucopyranosyloxybenzyl alcohol) 3 have no tyrosinase inhibitory activity, but inhibit the melanin synthesis in B16 melanoma cells. Tyrosinase inhibitory activities of bis(4-hydroxyphenyl)methane 2 (IC$\_$50/ = 400 $\mu\textrm{g}$/mL) and butanol fraction (IC$\_$50/ = 46 $\mu\textrm{g}$/mL) were lower/higher than that of arbutin (IC$\_$50/ = 114 $\mu\textrm{g}$/mL), but inhibitory activities of melanin synthesis in B16 melanoma cells were much higher than that of arbutin. Especially, tyrosinase inhibitory activities of isolated phenolic fraction (IC$\_$50/ = 2.37 $\mu\textrm{g}$/mL) from butanol fraction was very higher than that of arbutin (IC$\_$50/ = 114 $\mu\textrm{g}$/mL). Therefore, these results suggest that isolated phenolic compounds from Gastrodia elata have inhibitory activity against mushroom tyrosinase and inhibitory activity of melanin synthesis in 816 melanoma cells in vitro.

• Archives of Plastic Surgery
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• v.38 no.6
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• pp.725-732
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• 2011

Purpose: Skin grafting is one of the most commonly used methods in reconstructive plastic surgery field, but complications such as color change, contracture or hypertrophy are common problems. However, pathophysiology of the color change after skin graft is not yet determined and no animal model is established. Methods: Full thickness skin grafts were performed on the dorsum of C57BL/6 mice. Serial chronological gross inspection for color change and pigmentation were examined. Melanin pigments were traced by Fontana-Masson staining and semi-quantitative analysis was performed. In addition, immunohistochemical staining of S-100, Micropthalmia related Transcription Factor (MITF) and Melan-A antibodies were also performed to observe melanocytes and their changes. Results: After skin graft, color change and pigment spots were observed in the graft. Fontana-Masson staining showed melanin pigments in the epidermal and dermal layers in all mice. Immunohistochemistry staining to S-100, MITF, Melan-A antibodies showed melanocytes at the basal layer of epidermis and dermis. Conclusion: In conclusion, we have established an animal model for skin pigmentation after skin graft. We believe this study may be useful in understanding of the behavior of melanocytes after skin graft.