Abstract
Essential oils extracted from aromatic plants exhibit important biological activities and have become increasingly important for the development of aromatherapy for complementary and alternative medicine. The essential oil extracted from Cinnamomum cassia Presl (CC-EO) has various functional properties; however, little information is available regarding its anti-tyrosinase and anti-melanogenic activities. In this study, 16 compounds in the CC-EO have been identified; the major components of this oil are cis-2-methoxycinnamic acid (43.06%) and cinnamaldehyde (42.37%). CC-EO and cinnamaldehyde exhibited anti-tyrosinase activities; however, cis-2-methoxycinnamic acid did not demonstrate tyrosinase inhibitory activity. In murine B16 melanoma cells stimulated with α-melanocyte-stimulating hormone (α-MSH), CC-EO and cinnamaldehyde not only reduced the melanin content and tyrosinase activity of the cells but also down-regulated tyrosinase expression without exhibiting cytotoxicity. Moreover, CC-EO and cinnamaldehyde decreased thiobarbituric acid-reactive substance (TBARS) levels and restored glutathione (GSH) and catalase activity in the α-MSH-stimulated B16 cells. These results demonstrate that CC-EO and its major component, cinnamaldehyde, possess potent anti-tyrosinase and anti-melanogenic activities that are coupled with antioxidant properties. Therefore, CC-EO may be a good source of skin-whitening agents and may have potential as an antioxidant in the future development of complementary and alternative medicine-based aromatherapy.
Highlights
Melanogenesis occurs in melanocytes through an enzymatic process that is catalyzed by tyrosinase.Tyrosinase is a multifunctional, copper-containing enzyme that is widely distributed in nature and plays a key role in melanogenesis
Many factors including harvesting time of the aromatic plant, climatic and agronomic conditions, vegetative cycle stage, different age and segment of the plant, the plant part used, extraction processes and assay methods have been reported to contribute to discrepancies in the observed cinnamaldehyde levels of various C. cassia essential oils [24]
Geng et al described that the identified compounds of C. cassia bark essential oil showed high fluctuations in the percentages compositions and the majority compound, trans-cinnamaldehyde, percentages varied within 33.95%–76.4% [24]
Summary
Melanogenesis occurs in melanocytes through an enzymatic process that is catalyzed by tyrosinase. Tyrosinase (monophenol, dihydroxyphenylalanine: oxygen oxidoreductase, EC 1.14.18.1) is a multifunctional, copper-containing enzyme that is widely distributed in nature and plays a key role in melanogenesis. It catalyzes both the hydroxylation of L-tyrosine (monophenolase activity) and the oxidation of L-DOPA (diphenolase activity) to o-quinone, which induces the production of melanin pigments [1]. This study sought to investigate the chemical composition of CC-EO by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) and examine the tyrosinase inhibitory activity of this EO To address this inhibitory activity, the effects of CC-EO and its chemical components on the α-MSH-stimulated melanogenesis in B16 melanoma cells were assessed
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