Preliminary screening of some tropical plants for anti-tyrosinase activity.

In our efforts to find new active tyrosinase inhibitors for skin-whitening or antibrowning preparations, we investigated 67 tropical plants belonging to 38 families, which were evaluated for their anti-tyrosinase activity. The results of our investigation show that extracts of 5 plants, Stryphnodendron barbatimao, Portulaca pilosa, Cariniana brasiliensis, Entada africana and Prosopis africana present interesting in vitro mushroom tyrosinase inhibition (over 90%), similar to a positive control: Morus alba. These 5 plants will be studied in order to isolate and identify phytochemical compounds, involved in this biological activity.