Tyrosinase inhibitors from natural and synthetic sources: structure, inhibition mechanism and perspective for the future

Abstract

Tyrosinase is known to be a key enzyme in melanin biosynthesis, involved in determining the color of mammalian skin and hair. Various dermatological disorders, such as melasma, age spots and sites of actinic damage, arise from the accumulation of an excessive level of epidermal pigmentation. In addition, unfavorable enzymatic browning of plant-derived foods by tyrosinase causes a decrease in nutritional quality and economic loss of food products. The inadequacy of current conventional techniques to prevent tyrosinase action encourages us to seek new potent tyrosinase inhibitors. This article overviews the various inhibitors obtained from natural and synthetic sources with their industrial importance.

Tyrosinase activity of Greyia flanaganii (Bolus) constituents

“…Examples of Flavonols include Kaempferol, Luteolin, Epigallocatechin etc. (Kim and Uyama 2005). All compounds isolated showed strong radical scavenging activity as compared to vitamin C (Table 1).…”

“…Polyphenols have been identified as a group of compounds containing multiple phenolic functionalities. They are produced as secondary metabolites by higher plants and have numerous biological activities (Kim and Uyama 2005). Flavonoids are one of the most numerous groups of plant polyphenols which are widely distributed in leaves, bark and flowers.…”

Novel Screening Method for Potential Skin-Whitening Compounds by a Luciferase Reporter Assay

“…Since the over-production and accumulation of melanin might occur in melasma, freckles, and other forms of melanin hyper-pigmentation, melanogenesis inhibitors have been developed as agents for use in medications and cosmetics; [1][2][3] for example, such tyrosinase inhibitors as arbutin, hydroquinone, and ellagic acid have been included in some cosmetic products. 14,15) Although we could also find sulforaphane with the usual method by measuring the melanin content using B16 melanoma cells, 5) this method took a long time and was troublesome for high-throughput screening.…”

“…[1][2][3] Over-production and accumulation of melanin, however, may cause various skin disorders. The use of skin-whitening agents, particularly by women, has been growing in recent years.…”

Antimelanogenic effects of Inula britannica flower petal extract fermented by Lactobacillus plantarum KCCM 11613P

“…Flavonoids have been known to have various bioactive functions such as therapeutic detoxification against liver injury (Zhang et al, 2014) and apoptosis of leukemia cells (Wang et al, 2015). In addition, many studies have reported that some phenolic compounds including flavonoids, such as kaempferol, parulerin, luteolin and epigallocatechin, have inhibitory effects on tyrosinase (Kim and Uyama, 2005;Huang et al, 2013). Furthermore, many have studied a fermentation technique of bioactive flavonoids to improve their bioactivity (Xing et al, 2016).…”