Inhibitory effects and underlying mechanisms of Artemisiacapillaris essential oil on melanogenesis in the B16F10 cell line.

Elsayed Mohamed,Beum-Soo An,Min Kim,Byoung-Jun Ahn,Eui-Bae Jeung,Mi-Jin Park,Da Kim

doi:10.3892/mmr.2022.12629

Abstract

The present study investigated the anti-melanogenic activity of 10 essential oils using the B16F10 cell model. Initially, a wide range of concentrations of these essential oils were screened in order to determine their toxicity levels. The assigned non-toxic concentrations of the tested essential oils were then used to evaluate their effects on melanogenesis. The effects of the essential oils with potent anti-melanogenic activity on cell proliferation, protection against H2O2-induced cell death and the expression of certain melanogenesis-related genes, including MITF, tyrosinase, tyrosinase related protein (TRP)-1 and TRP-2 were also evaluated. The results revealed that the essential oils extracted from Citrus unshiu, Juniperus chinensis L., Zanthoxylum piperitum and Artemisia capillaris (A. capillaris) inhibited melanogenesis. However, among these four extracts, only A. capillaris extract enhanced cell proliferation, exhibited anti-H2O2 activities and decreased the expression level of TRP-1. It was demonstrated that A. capillaris extract inhibited melanin synthesis via the downregulation of the TRP-1 translational level. These essential oil extracts, particularly that of A. capillaris, may thus be used as natural anti-melanogenic agents for therapeutic purposes and in the cosmetic industry for skin whitening effects with beneficial proliferative properties. However, further studies using in vivo models are required to validate these findings and to examine the effects of these extracts on various molecular pathways.

Highlights

Melanogenesis is a crucial physiological process that occurs in melanocytes by which the melanosomes that synthesize and store melanin pigment are loaded with melanin and are translocated into the epidermal keratinocytes [1]
Schmidt (A. glehnii), and from 0.08 to 20 ppm for the essential oils extracted from Citrus natsudaidai Hayata (C. natsudaidai), Citrus pseudo gulgul (C. pseudo gulgul), Juniperus chinensis (J. chinensis L.), Zanthoxylum piperitum (Z. piperitum), Artemisia capillaris (A. capillaris) and Cinnamomum cassia (C. cassia) to screen their toxic effects on B16F10 cells
The essential oils extracted from C. unshiu exhibited the highest toxicity level (IC50, 5.388 ppm), whereas the essential oil extracted from A. glehnii exhibited the lowest toxicity level (IC50, 30.846 ppm) (Fig. 1)

Summary

Introduction

Melanogenesis is a crucial physiological process that occurs in melanocytes by which the melanosomes that synthesize and store melanin pigment are loaded with melanin and are translocated into the epidermal keratinocytes [1]. Melanin biosynthesis is a tightly regulated process, with different path‐ ways controlled by several enzymes and regulators. Tyrosinase is the main enzyme, initiating and regulating melanogenesis. TRP‐1 and TRP‐2 stabilize tyrosinase activity and TRP‐1 possibly maintains melanosome structural integrity. Several regulators are involved in melanin biosynthesis, such as microphthalmia‐associated transcription factor (MITF), which is considered the main transcriptional regulator of melanogenesis, functioning as the ‘central switchboard’ for the routing of various signals involved in the expression of melanogenesis‐related genes [2,3]

Objectives

Methods

Results

Conclusion