Inhibitory Effects of Resveratrol Analogs on Mushroom Tyrosinase Activity

• Main Authors: Nádia Rezende Barbosa Raposo, Adilson David da Silva, Raquel da Silva Teixeira, Gustavo Senra Gonçalves de Carvalho, Paula Rafaela Rocha, Danielle Cristina Zimmermann Franco
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: MDPI AG 2012-10-01
• Series: Molecules
• Subjects: chemical synthesis; mushroom tyrosinase activity; structure-activity; tyrosinase; activity in vitro
• Online Access: http://www.mdpi.com/1420-3049/17/10/11816

Skin pigmentation disorders typically involve an overproduction or uneven distribution of melanin, which results in skin spots. Resveratrol can inhibit tyrosinase, the active enzyme in the synthesis of melanin, but it does not inhibit the synthesis of melanin to an extent that enables its use alone as a skin whitening agent in pharmaceutical formulations, so its use as a coadjuvant in treatment of hyperpigmentation is suggested. Six resveratrol analogs were tested for tyrosinase inhibitory activity in vitro. Among the analogs tested, compound D was the most powerful tyrosinase inhibitor (IC50 = 28.66 µg/mL), two times more active than resveratrol (IC50 = 57.05 µg/mL), followed by the analogs A, E, B, F and C, respectively. This demonstrated that the hydroxylation at C4' on the phenolic ring was the molecular modification with most importance for the observed activity.