Hypopigmenting Effects of Brown Algae-Derived Phytochemicals: A Review on Molecular Mechanisms

Abstract

There is a rapid increase in the demand for natural hypopigmenting agents from marine sources for cosmeceutical and pharmaceutical applications. Currently, marine macroalgae are considered as a safe and effective source of diverse bioactive compounds. Many research groups are exploring marine macroalgae to discover and characterize novel compounds for cosmeceutical, nutraceutical, and pharmaceutical applications. Many types of bioactive secondary metabolites from marine algae, including phlorotannins, sulfated polysaccharides, carotenoids, and meroterpenoids, have already been documented for their potential applications in the pharmaceutical industry. Among these metabolites, phlorotannins from brown algae have been widely screened for their pharmaceutical and hypopigmenting effects. Unfortunately, the majority of these articles did not have detailed investigations on molecular targets, which is critical to fulfilling the criteria for their cosmeceutical and pharmaceutical use. Very recently, a few meroterpenoids have been discovered from Sargassum sp., with the examination of their anti-melanogenic properties and mechanisms. Despite the scarcity of in vivo and clinical investigations of molecular mechanistic events of marine algae-derived hypopigmenting agents, identifying the therapeutic targets and their validation in humans has been a major challenge for future studies. In this review, we focused on available data representing molecular mechanisms underlying hypopigmenting properties of potential marine brown alga-derived compounds.

Algae Metabolites in Cosmeceutical: An Overview of Current Applications and Challenges

“…They also demonstrated that the pigmentation in the guinea pigs was suppressed by a daily consummation of fucoxanthin of about 0.001% through their diet [39,48]. Furthermore, the oral treatment of fucoxanthin can inhibit transcription for melanogenesis by repressing mRNA expression of COX-2, p75NTR, EP1, and MC1R [39]. The findings showed that fucoxanthin has anti-pigmentary effect by suppressing prostaglandin E2 synthesis and melanogenic stimulant receptors [39,48].…”

“…Interestingly, they found that fucoxanthin suppressed tyrosinase-related protein 1 (TRP1) instead of tyrosinase. They also demonstrated that the pigmentation in the guinea pigs was suppressed by a daily consummation of fucoxanthin of about 0.001% through their diet [39,48]. Furthermore, the oral treatment of fucoxanthin can inhibit transcription for melanogenesis by repressing mRNA expression of COX-2, p75NTR, EP1, and MC1R [39].…”

“…UVC is highly bioactive but humans are not exposed to UVC because it is mostly absorbed by the ozone layer. In addition, UV-induced oxidative stress plays a crucial role in causing aging, inflammation, melanogenesis and even cancer which are shown in Figure 1 [9,12,[38][39][40][41]. include acne, eczema, dermatitis, hives, psoriasis, and pityriasis rosea which cause rashes [34].…”

Potential Use of Seaweed Bioactive Compounds in Skincare—A Review

“…The KIT receptor activates the cAMP pathway and MC1R activates both cAMP and ERK pathway which further phosphorylates the MITF. This leads to the expression of tyrosinase-related enzymes which further mediates the production of melanin [22][23][24][25][26]. The skin under UV generates the reactive oxygen species (ROS) that activate the α-MSH and MC1R and enhances the production of tyrosinase that leads to the excess generation of melanin [27,28].…”

Health impact of marine carotenoids

“…1 O 2 is the main reactive oxygen molecule responsible for UV light-induced photooxidative damage of photosynthetic membranes and animal tissues. The strong ability of carotenoids to quench 1 O 2 has been suggested as the main mechanism by which they afford their beneficial effects on skin protection (Azam et al, 2017;Corinaldesi et al, 2017). Carotenoids can also Health impact of marine carotenoids Miyashita et al scavenge free radicals.…”