| Article ID | Journal | Published Year | Pages | File Type |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3213750 | Journal of Dermatological Science | 2009 | 6 Pages |
Background and objectiveThe biosafety of hydroquinone and its derivatives as skin whitening agent remains controversial. Here, we investigated the effects of hydroquinone, arbutin, and deoxyarbutin (d-arb) on melanogenesis and antioxidation using cultured melan-a melanocytes in the presence or absence of ultraviolet A (UVA)-induced oxidative stress and determined whether d-arb enables to be an alterative to hydroquinone and arbutin for skin whitening use.Methodsd-arb was synthesized in this study by removing all hydroxyl groups from the glucose side-chain of arbutin. Tyrosinase activity was measured by 14C-tyrosine incorporation, the intracellular reactive oxygen species (ROS) level was monitored by H2DCFDA fluorescence labeling, and the cell viability was determined by MTT assay in murine melan-a melanocytes treated with hydroquinone, arbutin and deoxyarbutin in the presence or absence of UVA-induced oxidative stress.ResultsThe cytotoxicity of hydroquinone and arbutin except for d-arb was increased while the cells exposed to a nontoxic dose (3 J/cm2) of UVA irradiation. Suppressed ROS generation was noted by the treatment of d-arb to compare with arbutin and hydroquinone. All three compounds had a similar inhibition on tyrosinase activity in dose-dependent manners with two- to three-fold decreases over the untreated control. There was no change in expression of tyrosinase protein in cells treated with arbutin or hydroquinone, but a decreased protein expression of tyrosinase was seen in deoxyarbutin-treated cells.ConclusionsDeoxyarbutin exerts potent tyrosinase inhibition, lessened cytotoxicity, and certain antioxidation potential, may serve as an effective and safe alternative to hydroquinone for use in skin whitening.
