agar and kojic-acid

Whitening effect, tyrosinase inhibitions, and cytotoxicity of neoagarotetraose were measured after purification from hydrolyzed agar by gel filtration chromatography. In melanoma B16F10 cells, melanin content of neoagarotetraose-treated cells was as same as that treated by kojic acid or arbutin. In addition, tyrosinase of melanoma cells was strongly inhibited by neoagarotetraose at a concentration of 1 micron/ml and similarly inhibited at 10 and 100 microg/ml compared to those by arbutin or kojic acid. The activity of mushroom tyrosinase showed a 38% inhibition by neoagarotetraose at 1 microg/ml, and this inhibitory effect was more efficient than that by kojic acid. Neoagarotetraose revealed similar IC(50) (50% inhibition concentration) value for mushroom tyrosinase as that by kojic acid. These data suggest that neoagarotetraose generated from agar by recombinant beta-agarase might be a good candidate as a cosmetic additive for whitening effect.

Topics: Agar; Agaricales; Animals; Cell Line, Tumor; Cell Survival; Enzyme Inhibitors; Galactosides; Hydrolysis; Melanins; Mice; Monophenol Monooxygenase; Oligosaccharides; Protein Binding; Pyrones