Functionality study of santalin as tyrosinase inhibitor: a potential depigmentation agent

July 28, 2017

Title

Functionality study of santalin as tyrosinase inhibitor: a potential depigmentation agent

Author

Hemachandran Hridya, Anantharaman Amrita, Sankari Mohan, Mohan Gopalakrishnan, Thirumal Kumar Dakshinamurthy, George Priya Doss, Ramamoorthy Siva

Year

2016

Journal

Biological Macromolecules

Abstract

Excessive melanin production leads to hyperpigmentation disorders which results in distressing aesthetic values. Though there are some synthetic depigmentation agents available it has been reported to possess cytotoxic and mutagenic effects. Hence there is a need for the development of safe and non toxic natural tyrosinase inhibitors. Here we report the role of santalin, the chief constituent of Pterocarpus santalinus in inhibition of tyrosinase and melanin synthesis. Santalin inhibited tyrosinase activity dose dependently. Inhibitory kinetic studies revealed mixed type of inhibition with reversible mechanism. Santalin was found to interact with the fluorophore amino acid residue of tyrosinase. Analysis of circular dichroism spectra showed the binding of santalin to tyrosinase which induced the loss of secondary helical structure. Molecular docking result suggested that santalin interact with the catalytic core of tyrosinase through strong hydrogen and hydrophobic bonding. The results of in vitro studies showed santalin inhibited melanogenesis through down regulation of MITF, tyrosinase, TRP-1 and TRP-2 without any cytotoxic effects towards B16F0 melanoma cells. Therefore, our results suggested that santalin possesses anti-tyrosinase activity, which could be utilized as a safe depigmentation agent in the cosmetic field for the treatment of hyperpigmentation disorder.

Instrument

J-715

Keywords

Circular dichroism, Ligand binding, Secondary structure, Biochemistry