Psoralea corylifolia (babchi) seeds enhance proliferation of normal human cultured melanocytes: GC–MS profiling and biological investigation

Plants are considered as a source of medicine to treat skin-related disorders since decades. Seeds of Psoralea corylifolia were used thousands of years ago for re-pigmentation in vitiligo patients especially in South Asia. It is a well-known fact that melanocytes, which are the specialized cells in the skin causes vitiligo through a series of chemical and enzymatic reactions, mainly due to the copper containing enzyme tyrosinase. Conditions associated with overproduction of melanin are termed hyperpigmentation. The treatment options are generally limited due to the complicated and slow pathogenesis of the disease. Therefore, therapeutic repigmentation modalities for the treatment of vitiligo are highly desirable. The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of various doses of ethanol and water extracts of P. corylifolia seeds on proliferation of normal human cultured melanocytes and its gas chromatography–mass spectrometry profiling.