The melanogenesis and mechanisms of skin‐lightening agents – existing and new approaches

Abstract

SynopsisSkin-lightening products are commercially available for cosmetic purposes to obtain lighter skin complexion. Clinically, they are also used for treatment of hyperpigmentary disorders such as melasma, café au lait spot and solar lentigo. All of these target naturally melanin production, and many of the commonly used agents are known as competitive inhibitors of tyrosinase, one of the key enzymes in melanogenesis. In this review, we present an overview of commonly used skin-whitening ingredients that are commercialized, but we also hypothesize on other mechanisms that could be important targets to control skin pigmentation such as for example regulation of the adrenergic and glutaminergic signalling and also control of tetrahydrobiopterins in the human skin. Ré suméLes produits éclaircissants sont disponibles dans le commerce pour des buts cosmétiques afin d'obtenir un tient plus clair. Ils sont égale-ment utilisés en clinique, pour le traitement de troubles hyper pigmentaires comme le melasma, les taches café au lait et le lentigo solaire. Tous ces produits ont pour cible la production naturelle de mélanine et beaucoup de ceux généralement utilisés sont reconnus comme des inhibiteurs compétitifs de la tyrosinase, une des enzymes clés de la mélanogénèse. Dans cette revue, nous présentons une vue d'ensemble des ingrédients généralement utilisés et commercialisés comme blanchissant cutanés mais nous formulons aussi l'hypothèse que d'autres mécanismes pourraient être des cibles importantes pour contrôler la pigmentation de la peau comme par exemple la régula-tion du signal adrénergique et glutaminergique ou le contrôle des tetrahydrobiopterines dans la peau humaine.

Antimelanogenic effects of Inula britannica flower petal extract fermented by Lactobacillus plantarum KCCM 11613P

“…Additionally, there is a high demand for the development of non-toxic and more effective skin-whitening cosmetics. Although many researchers have attempted to identify pharmacological and cosmetic compounds that inhibit tyrosinase activity and to establish their melanogenic pathways with the goal of whitening skin, very few materials have been developed to date (Gillbro and Olsson, 2011). Traditional herbs are considered as useful materials for the development of skin-whitening cosmetic agents because of their low side effects and environment-friendly impression compared with synthetic chemical compounds.…”

Anti-melanogenesis Active Constituents from the Extracts of Carpinus turczaninowii Leaves

“…However, the overproduction and accumulation of melanin in the epidermis could lead to skin pigment disorders including melasma, freckles and solar lentigo. Accordingly, the regulation of melanin production is an important strategy in the treatment of abnormal skin pigmentation for cosmetic and medicinal purposes [1][2][3].…”

Microarray as High Throughput Tool for Tyrosinase Gene Expression Analysis

“…But many of them find associated with several side effects Hence research is going on for the elucidation of tyrosinase inhibitors with less or no side effects [6,7]. Traditionally, the molecules having antityrosinase activity have been elucidated by using different time consuming and labour intensive experiments.…”