S-(−)-10,11-Dihydroxyfarnesoic Acid Methyl Ester Inhibits Melanin Synthesis in Murine Melanocyte Cells

International Journal of Molecular Sciences

Seung-Hwa Baek²  Jun-Won Ahn¹  Sung-Hee Nam⁴  Cheol-Sik Yoon⁵  Jae-Cheon Shin³ 

[1] Department of Nano-Science & Technology, Graduate School, Kyungpook National University, Daegu 702-701, Korea; E-Mail:;Department of Food Science & Biotechnology, Graduate School, Kyungpook National University, Daegu 702-701, Korea; E-Mail:;Pohang Center for Evaluation of Biomaterials, Pohang Technopark, Pohang 790-834, Korea;Department of Agricultural Biology, National Academy of Agricultural Science, Rural Administration Agency, Suwon 441-707, Korea; E-Mail:;Mycoplus Co., Ltd., Anyang 431-080, Korea; E-Mail:

关键词: dihydroxyfarnesoic acid;    melanin;    tyrosinase;    inhibitor;    insect juvenile hormone;    whitening;   

DOI  :  10.3390/ijms150712750

来源: mdpi

【 摘 要 】

The development of antimelanogenic agents is important for the prevention of serious aesthetic problems such as melasmas, freckles, age spots, and chloasmas. In the course of screening for melanin synthesis inhibitors, we found that the culture broth from an insect morphopathogenic fungus, Beauveria bassiana CS1029, exhibits potent antimelanogenic activity. We isolated and purified an active metabolite and identified it as S-(−)-10,11-dihydroxyfarnesoic acid methyl ester (dhFAME), an insect juvenile hormone. To address whether dhFAME inhibits melanin synthesis, we first measured the size of the melanin biosynthesis inhibition zone caused by dhFAME. dhFAME also showed inhibitory activity against mushroom tyrosinase in Melan-a cells. Intracellular, dose-dependent tyrosinase inhibition activity was also confirmed by zymography. In addition, we showed that dhFAME strongly inhibits melanin synthesis in Melan-a cells. Furthermore, we compared levels of TYR, TRP-1, TRP-2, MITF, and MC1R mRNA expression by reverse-transcription polymerase chain reaction and showed that treatment of Melan-a cells with 35 μM dhFAME led to an 11-fold decrease in TYR expression, a 6-fold decrease in TRP-2 expression, and a 5-fold decrease in MITF expression. Together, these results indicate that dhFAME is a potent inhibitor of melanin synthesis that can potentially be used for cosmetic biomaterial(s).

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© 2014 by the authors; licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.