Abstract
Tyrosinase is a multifunctional, glycosylated, and copper-containing oxidase, which catalyzes the first two steps in mammalian melanogenesis and is responsible for enzymatic browning reactions in damaged fruits during post-harvest handling and processing. Neither hyperpigmentation in human skin nor enzymatic browning in fruits are desirable. These phenomena have encouraged researchers to seek new potent tyrosinase inhibitors for use in foods and cosmetics. This article surveys tyrosinase inhibitors newly discovered from natural and synthetic sources. The inhibitory strength is compared with that of a standard inhibitor, kojic acid, and their inhibitory mechanisms are discussed.
Highlights
For the past few decades, tyrosinase inhibitors have been a great concern solely due to the key role of tyrosinase in both mammalian melanogenesis and fruit or fungi enzymatic browning
The commercial availability of mushroom tyrosinase plays a critical role in tyrosinase inhibitor studies, and most research has been conducted with this enzyme, which is well studied and purified from the mushroom A. bisporus
This success is based on several fundamental studies in different fields, such as the early finding and the detailed study of tyrosinase as key in melanin biosynthesis, and the deep research into the biochemical, kinetic, reaction mechanistic, and structural aspects of the enzyme
Summary
For the past few decades, tyrosinase inhibitors have been a great concern solely due to the key role of tyrosinase in both mammalian melanogenesis and fruit or fungi enzymatic browning. Melanogenesis is initiated with the first step of tyrosine oxidation to dopaquinone catalyzed by tyrosinase. This first step is the rate-limiting step in melanin synthesis because the remainder of the reaction sequence can proceed spontaneously at a physiological pH value [5]. Hyperpigmentation in human skin and enzymatic browning in fruits are not desirable. These phenomena have encouraged researchers to seek new potent tyrosinase inhibitors for use in. A huge number of depigmenting agents or whitening agents developed by those alternative approaches have been successfully identified and deeply reviewed in many articles [10,11,12,13,14,15,16] These multidirectional approaches to treat hyperpigmentation are not discussed in this review
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