Fractionation of Simulated Digestive Products of Bird’s Nest In Vitro: Skin Whitening Activity of Fractions

Abstract

Edible bird’s nest (EBN) has been proven to exhibit whitening activity. In spite of this, the relationship between the digestive products of EBN and the whitening activity is still unclear. Hence, the B16-F10 cell model was used in this study to study the whitening activity of simulated EBN digestion products in vitro. The simulated digestive juices showed significant inhibition of tyrosinase (TYR) ( P < 0.05), and the release rate of free sialic acid was 21.87% in EBN digestive juices. After simulated gastrointestinal digestion, the relative contents of <1 kDa components, 1–3 kDa components, and >3 kDa components were 42.63%, 15.05%, and 42.32%, respectively. EBN digestive products were further fractionated, and the fraction of <1 kDa (EPP-1) exhibited the highest tyrosinase inhibitory activity with 83.12% and its peptides content was 92.44%. The EPP-1 significantly inhibited tyrosinase activity and decreased melanin content ( P > 0.05) by regulating the cAMP/MITF/TRP-1/TRP-2 tyrosinase signaling pathways in the B16-F10 cell experiment. Based on these findings, our data suggest that the digestive products of EBN may potentially be fit for developing a new generation of natural whitening health products.