Potential of medicinal plants extractives as anti-melanogenesis ingredients

Abstract

Melanin is the pigment in the human and animal skin that is synthesized by tyrosinase from L-tyrosine to L-DOPA, following the oxidation of L-DOPA to L-DOPA quinone. Skin whitening agents have been desired as treatment of skin diseases caused by the excess accumulation of melanin on the human skin, because skin darkening is one of the serious aesthetic problems in human beings. Inhibiting the tyrosinase activity and the protein expression are the target to develop the skin whitening agent. A large number of active compounds have been isolated and identified from natural product to develop whitening agents so far. This review reports the potential of traditional medicinal plant extractives and the effective novel ingredients as anti-melanogenesis.