BACKGROUND The treatment of post-inflammatory hyperpigmentation (PIH) remains challenging. Tranexamic acid, a well-known anti-fibrinolytic drug, has recently demonstrated a curative effect towards melasma and ultraviolet-induced PIH in Asian countries. However, the precise mechanism of its inhibitory effect on melanogenesis is not fully understood. OBJECTIVE In order to clarify the inhibitory...

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES Sageretia thea is traditionally used as a medicinal herb to treat various diseases, including skin disorders, in China and Korea. This study evaluated the inhibitory effect of Sageretia thea fruit on melanogenesis and its underlying mechanisms in B16F10 mouse melanoma cells. The active chemical compounds in anti-melanogenesis were determined in Sageretia thea. MATERIALS/...

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) play an important role in regulating almost all biological processes. miRNAs bind to the 3' untranslated region (UTR) of mRNAs by sequence matching. In a previous study, we demonstrated that miR-21 was differently expressed in alpaca skin with different hair color. However, the molecular and cellular mechanisms for miR-21 to regulate the coat color are not yet completely unde...

While the medicinal fungus Inonotus obliquus produces polyphenols as one of its main metabolites in natural habitats, it accumulates less polyphenols under laboratory conditions. In this study we found that the continuous addition of 1 mM H(2)O(2) at a rate of 1.6 ml/h into a submerged culture of the fungus enhanced its production of mycelia, melanins, flavonoids and hispidin analogs (HA). Simu...

The aim of this study was to determine the effects of adlay extract on melanin production and the antioxidant characteristics of the extract. The seeds were extracted by the supercritical fluid CO2 extraction (SFE) method. The effect of adlay extract on melanin production was evaluated using mushroom tyrosinase activity assay, intracellular tyrosinase activity, antioxidant properties and melani...

Melanin in the skin determines the skin color, and decreased melanin causes many hypopigmentation disorders and increased damage to skin by ultraviolet B (UVB) light irradiation. Here, we stimulate melanogenesis in B16F10 melanoma cells by using specific frequencies of ELF-EMFs. In this study, we focus on the melanogenesis of EMF-ELFs and find that 60-75Hz ELF-EMFs upregulate melanin synthesis ...

The last decade has witnessed a quantum jump in our knowledge of the chemistry of melanogenesis and the emergence of some understanding as to how the chemical and enzymatic activities are integrated and regulated at cellular level. To an unusual extent, most of these advances stemmed from a molecular approach involving direct analysis of natural melanins coupled with studies of the chemical rea...

The effects of essential oil from Eucalyptus camaldulensis flowers oil on melanogenesis and the oil's antioxidant characteristics were investigated. Assays of mushroom and cellular tyrosinase activities and melanin content of mouse melanoma cells were performed spectrophotometrically, and the expression of melanogenesis-related proteins was determined by Western blotting. The possible signaling...

This study evaluated frequency-dependent effects of extremely low frequency electromagnetic fields (ELF-EMFs) on melanogenesis by melanocytes in vitro. Melanocytes were exposed to 2 mT EMFs at 30-75 Hz for 3 days before melanogenesis was examined. Exposure to ELF-EMFs at 50 and 60 Hz induced melanogenic maturation without cell damage, without changing cell proliferation and mitochondrial activi...

Figure 2. The effect of fractions A, B, C, D and E from the EtOAC soluble fraction of the methanolic extract of tuber-barks of C. antiquorum var. esculenta on melanogenesis in melan-a cells. Test samples were tested at three concentrations of 1, 10 and 100 μg/mL. PTU (1-phenyl-2-thiourea) was used as positive control. Test sample and medium were renewed daily. The cell viabilities and the melan...