RESUMO
The bark of the root and stem of Ulmus davidiana var. japonica has been used as a traditional Korean medicine to treat inflammatory disorders. This plant reportedly exhibits antioxidant, anticancer, and anti-inflammatory effects. A search for biologically active compounds in U. davidiana var. japonica extracts yielded bakuchiol, which we structurally identified on the basis of spectral data, including two-dimensional nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy and distortionless enhancement by polarization transfer. In our study, bakuchiol (50 microM) inhibited lipopolysaccharide-induced nitric oxide and prostaglandin E(2) production in RAW 264.7 macrophages by 53.7% and 84.2%, respectively. These results suggested that bakuchiol is one of the potent anti-inflammatory components of U. davidiana var. japonica.
Assuntos
Anti-Inflamatórios/isolamento & purificação , Fenóis/isolamento & purificação , Extratos Vegetais/isolamento & purificação , Ulmus/química , Animais , Anti-Inflamatórios/análise , Anti-Inflamatórios/farmacologia , Linhagem Celular Tumoral , Dinoprostona/imunologia , Inflamação/tratamento farmacológico , Inflamação/imunologia , Camundongos , Óxido Nítrico/imunologia , Fenóis/análise , Fenóis/farmacologia , Casca de Planta/química , Extratos Vegetais/análise , Extratos Vegetais/farmacologia , Raízes de Plantas/química , Caules de Planta/químicaRESUMO
Cinnamic acid is a wildly distributed phenylpropanoid component naturally occurring in plants, and is mainly found in Cinnamomum cassia BLUME and Panax ginseng. Cinnamic acid was recently reported to exert a tyrosinase inhibitory effect. However, research on melanocytes and animal bodies was not reported until now. In this study, we examined the effects of cinnamic acid on melanin biosynthesis within the melanocytes and brown guinea pigs. Melan-a cells were used to examine the effects of cinnamic acid in the melanocytes. Treatment with 100 ppm of cinnamic acid resulted in a significant reduction of melanin production in the melan-a cells at 29.0%. This compound also exhibited a potent inhibitory effect on tyrosinase activity and reduced tyrosinase expression in the melan-a cells. Moreover, cinnamic acid exhibited depigmenting activity on the UV-B-induced hyperpigmentation of brown guinea pig skin. Our results suggest that cinnamic acid might act as a skin whitening agent via inhibition of tyrosinase activity and expression within melanocytes.
