Calycosin, a Common Dietary Isoflavonoid, Suppresses Melanogenesis through the Downregulation of PKA/CREB and p38 MAPK Signaling Pathways.

Calycosin, a bioactive isoflavonoid isolated from root extracts of Astragalus membranaceus, has been reported to inhibit melanogenesis, the mechanism of which remains undefined. In this study, we interrogated the mechanistic basis by which calycosin inhibits melanin production in two model systems, i.e., B16F10 melanoma cells and zebrafish embryos. Calycosin was effective in protecting B16F10 cells from α-melanocyte-stimulating hormone (α-MSH)-induced melanogenesis and tyrosinase activity. This anti-melanogenic effect was accompanied by decreased expression levels of microphthalmia-associated transcription factor (MITF), a key protein controlling melanin synthesis, and its target genes tyrosinase and tyrosinase-related protein-2 (TRP-2) in calycosin-treated cells. Mechanistically, we obtained the first evidence that calycosin-mediated MITF downregulation was attributable to its ability to block signaling pathways mediated by cAMP response element-binding protein (CREB) and p38 MAP kinase. The protein kinase A (PKA) inhibitor H-89 and p38 inhibitor SB203580 validated the premise that calycosin inhibits melanin synthesis and tyrosinase activity by regulating the PKA/CREB and p38 MAPK signaling pathways. Moreover, the in vivo anti-melanogenic efficacy of calycosin was manifested by its ability to suppress body pigmentation and tyrosinase activity in zebrafish embryos. Together, these data suggested the translational potential of calycosin to be developed as skin-lightening cosmeceuticals.

First-principles surface stress calculations and multiscale deformation analysis of a self-assembled monolayer adsorbed on a micro-cantilever.

Micro-cantilever sensors are widely used to detect biomolecules, chemical gases, and ionic species. However, the theoretical descriptions and predictive modeling of these devices are not well developed, and lag behind advances in fabrication and applications. In this paper, we present a novel multiscale simulation framework for nanomechanical sensors. This framework, combining density functional theory (DFT) calculations and finite element method (FEM) analysis, is capable of analyzing molecular adsorption-induced deformation and stress fields in the sensors from the molecular scale to the device scale. Adsorption of alkanethiolate self-assembled monolayer (SAM) on the Au(111) surface of the micro-cantilever sensor is studied in detail to demonstrate the applicability of this framework. DFT calculations are employed to investigate the molecular adsorption-induced surface stress upon the gold surface. The 3D shell elements with initial stresses obtained from the DFT calculations serve as SAM domains in the adsorption layer, while FEM is employed to analyze the deformation and stress of the sensor devices. We find that the micro-cantilever tip deflection has a linear relationship with the coverage of the SAM domains. With full coverage, the tip deflection decreases as the molecular chain length increases. The multiscale simulation framework provides a quantitative analysis of the displacement and stress fields, and can be used to predict the response of nanomechanical sensors subjected to complex molecular adsorption.