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Excessive melanogenesis leads to hyperpigmentation, which is one of the common skin conditions in humans. Existing whitening cosmetics cannot meet market needs due to their inherent limitations. Thus, the development of novel skin-whitening agents continues to be a challenge. The peptide OA-VI12 from the skin of amphibians at high altitude has attracted attention due to its remarkable anti light damage activity. However, whether OA-VI12 has the skin-whitening effect of inhibiting melanogenesis is still. Mouse melanoma cells (B16) were used to study the effect of OA-VI12 on cell viability and melanin content. The pigmentation model of C57B/6 mouse ear skin was induced by UVB and treated with OA-VI12. Melanin staining was used to observe the degree of pigmentation. MicroRNA sequencing, quantitative real-time PCR (qRT-PCR), immunofluorescence analysis and Western blot were used to detect the change of factor expression. Double luciferase gene report experiment was used to prove the regulatory relationship between miRNA and target genes. OA-VI12 has no effect on the viability of B16 cells in the concentration range of 1–100 μM and significantly inhibits the melanin content of B16 cells. Topical application of OA-VI12, which exerted transdermal potency, prevented UVB-induced pigmentation of ear skin. MicroRNA sequencing and double luciferase reporter analysis results showed that miR-122-5p, which directly regulated microphthalmia-associated transcription factor (Mitf), had significantly different expression before and after treatment with OA-VI12. Mitf is a simple helix loop and leucine zipper transcription factor that regulates tyrosinase (Tyr) expression by binding to the M-box promoter element of Tyr. qRT-PCR, immunofluorescence analysis and Western blot showed that OA-VI12 up-regulated the expression of miR-122-5p and inhibited the expression of Mitf and Tyr. The effects of OA-VI12 on melanogenesis inhibition in vitro and in vivo may involve the miR-122-5p/Mitf/tyr axis. OA-VI12 represents the first report on a natural amphibian-derived peptide with skin-whitening capacity and the first report of miR-122-5p as a target for regulating melanogenesis, thereby demonstrating its potential as a novel skin-whitening agent and highlighting amphibian-derived peptides as an underdeveloped resource. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract The global cosmetics market reached US$500 billion in 2017 and is expected to exceed US$800 billion by 2023, at around a 7% annual growth rate. The cosmetics industry is emerging as one of the fastest-growing industries of the past decade. Data shows that the Chinese cosmetics market was US$60 billion in 2021. It is expected to be the world's number one consumer cosmetics market by 2050, with a size of approximately US$450 billion. The influence of social media and the internet has raised awareness of the risks associated with the usage of many chemicals in cosmetics and the health benefits of natural products derived from plants and other natural resources. As a result, the cosmetic industry is now paying more attention to natural products. The present review focus on the possible applications of natural products from various biological sources in skin care cosmetics, including topical care products, fragrances, moisturizers, UV protective, and anti-wrinkle products. In addition, the mechanisms of targets for evaluation of active ingredients in cosmetics and the possible benefits of these bioactive compounds in rejuvenation and health, and their potential role in cosmetics are also discussed.

The global cosmetics market reached US$500 billion in 2017 and is expected to exceed US$800 billion by 2023, at around a 7% annual growth rate. The cosmetics industry is emerging as one of the fastest-growing industries of the past decade. Data shows that the Chinese cosmetics market was US$60 billion in 2021. It is expected to be the world's number one consumer cosmetics market by 2050, with a size of approximately US$450 billion. The influence of social media and the internet has raised awareness of the risks associated with the usage of many chemicals in cosmetics and the health benefits of natural products derived from plants and other natural resources. As a result, the cosmetic industry is now paying more attention to natural products. The present review focus on the possible applications of natural products from various biological sources in skin care cosmetics, including topical care products, fragrances, moisturizers, UV protective, and anti-wrinkle products. In addition, the mechanisms of targets for evaluation of active ingredients in cosmetics and the possible benefits of these bioactive compounds in rejuvenation and health, and their potential role in cosmetics are also discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Skin hyperpigmentation is commonly treated by topical drug application. Several naturally occurring compounds exhibit attractive biological effects including anti‐melanogenic activity. Chemically modified derivatives of those compounds are expected to be more efficient. However, efficacy and safety testing processes are of significant consideration to identify the most effective compound among them. Herein, we demonstrated a tiered approach to investigate the antipigmentation activity of 17 trans‐N‐coumaroyltyramine derivatives. First, we evaluated the in chemico antityrosinase activity, then the cytotoxicity of the most potent derivatives using a mitochondrial activity‐based assay, followed with the in vitro anti‐melanogenic activity in two dimensional (2D) monolayer human melanocytes. The selected derivatives were topically applied on a three dimensional (3D) pigmented‐reconstructed human epidermis (pRhE) containing melanocytes and keratinocytes to evaluate their depigmenting activity. Two of the 17 derivatives displayed a significant reduction in pigmentation in the 3D pRhE, comparable to kojic acid, a known tyrosinase inhibitor. In addition, a molecular docking experiment indicated an interaction of the three derivatives and tyrosinase, suggesting that these derivatives have potent anti‐melanogenic activity through tyrosinase inhibition. Our findings provide an alternative approach for investigating skin‐whitening agents, thereby facilitating the research and development of skin‐whitening products that need not be tested on animals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The overproduction of eumelanin leads to a panel of unaesthetic hyper-pigmented skin diseases, including melasma and age spots. The treatment of these diseases often requires the use of tyrosinase inhibitors, which act as skin whitening agents by inhibiting the synthesis of eumelanin, with harmful side effects. We report here that laccase from Trametes versicolor in association with a cocktail of natural phenol redox mediators efficiently degraded eumelanin from Sepia officinalis, offering an alternative procedure to traditional whitening agents. Redox mediators showed a synergistic effect with respect to their single-mediator counterpart, highlighting the beneficial role of the cocktail system. The pro-oxidant DHICA sub-units of eumelanin were degraded better than the DHI counterpart, as monitored by the formation of pyrrole-2,3,5-tricarboxylic acid (PTCA) and pyrrole-2,3-dicarboxylic acid (PDCA) degradation products. The most effective laccase-mediated cocktail system was successively applied in a two-component prototype of a topical whitening cream, showing high degradative efficacy against eumelanin. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present work mainly highlights the simultaneous detection of four skin whitening agents i.e. hydroquinone (HQ), resorcinol (RS), catechol (CC) and 3,3′-dichlorobenzidine (DCB) in facial creams and body lotion. Among these, the first three are positional isomers of dihydroxybenzene so simultaneous separation is difficult with the conventional reverse-phase high-performance liquid chromatographic technique (RP-HPLC). The selected skin whitening agents were detected in facial cream and body lotion using micellar liquid chromatography coupled to a photodiode array detector (MLC-PDA). In the present study, optimization of the method was accomplished using response surface methodology (RSM) with central composite design (CCD). The second-order polynomial model for predicting the optimal chromatographic run time was evaluated by the analysis of variance (ANOVA) and 3D response surface plots for the interactions between three variables were constructed. Three experimental parameters which were chosen as independent variables were; surfactant concentration (SDS), the volume percentage of organic modifier (OM) and pH of the mobile phase. The second-order polynomial model for predicting the optimal chromatographic run time was evaluated by the analysis of variance (ANOVA) and 3D response surface plots for the interactions between three variables were constructed. Three experimental parameters which were chosen as independent variables were; surfactant concentration (SDS), percentage of organic modifier (OM) and pH of the mobile phase. The second-order polynomial model for predicting the optimal chromatographic run time was evaluated by the analysis of variance (ANOVA) and 3D response surface plots for the interactions between three variables were constructed. Three experimental parameters which were chosen as independent variables were; surfactant concentration (SDS), percentage of organic modifier (OM) and pH of the mobile phase. The optimized mobile phase was 0.15 M SDS and 7% 1-butanol, buffered at pH 7 with 0.01 M NaH2PO4. The chromatographic run time for simultaneous determination of selected analytes was 7.5 min. The correlation coefficient (r2) values were satisfactory between 0.998–0.999 over the linear concentration range. Limits of detection (LODs) and the limits of quantification (LOQs) for the four skin whitening agents were in the range of 0.05–0.07 μg/mg and 0.11–0.14 μg/mg, respectively. Trueness (98.4–102.7%) and precision (< 4.3%) were acceptable. The developed method was fast, cost-effective, and green which could easily analyze complex matrices (facial creams, body lotion) without any pretreatment other than filtration. The results indicated that the MLC-PDA method proved to be more suitable for the simultaneous separation of selected positional isomers.

The overproduction of eumelanin leads to a panel of unaesthetic hyper-pigmented skin diseases, including melasma and age spots. The treatment of these diseases often requires the use of tyrosinase inhibitors, which act as skin whitening agents by inhibiting the synthesis of eumelanin, with harmful side effects. We report here that laccase from Trametes versicolor in association with a cocktail of natural phenol redox mediators efficiently degraded eumelanin from Sepia officinalis, offering an alternative procedure to traditional whitening agents. Redox mediators showed a synergistic effect with respect to their single-mediator counterpart, highlighting the beneficial role of the cocktail system. The pro-oxidant DHICA sub-units of eumelanin were degraded better than the DHI counterpart, as monitored by the formation of pyrrole-2,3,5-tricarboxylic acid (PTCA) and pyrrole-2,3-dicarboxylic acid (PDCA) degradation products. The most effective laccase-mediated cocktail system was successively applied in a two-component prototype of a topical whitening cream, showing high degradative efficacy against eumelanin.

[Display omitted] A 2-step flow-based chemo-enzymatic synthesis of selected cinnamoyl tryptamines as potential cosmetic ingredients has been developed. A first reaction catalyzed by immobilized Pd(OAc) 2 gave the acyl donors employed as starting material in the second step, with very good yields (67–70%) and rapid reaction times (30 min). A second bioreactor made of imm-MsAcT, a glyoxyl-agarose immobilized acyl transferase from Mycobacterium smegmatis , was employed for the fast and efficient preparation of the desired amides (58–70% m.c., 15 min). In-line work-up allowing for the recovery and reuse of the unreacted substrates was added downstream the process, enhancing its automation. The combination of flow facilities, high substrate-to-catalyst ratio and closed-loop strategies make this methodology a sustainable and cost-effective procedure. Computational studies were carried out to provide insights into the enzymatic active site and substrate recognition [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]