Anti-melanogenesis Activity of Lime Mint Essential Oil

Example 13

The depigmentation or anti-melanogenesis activity of LM-EO was examined. Kojic acid (KA), commonly used in skin-lightening cosmetic products in cosmetic industries was selected as the positive control. The photo images of the B16 cells treated with LM-EO or KA for 6, 12 and 24 h showed that LM-EO might have depigmentation effect (FIG. 14A). Further quantification data shown in FIG. 14A indeed revealed that when the cells were treated for 24 h, 15 and 25 μg/mL LM-EO, and 100 μg/mL KA all showed depigmentation effect with statistical significance. Tyrosinase is a key protein in the process of melanin formation, the expression level of tyrosinase was investigated by western blotting. The data in FIG. 14B show that either LM-EO or KA time-dependently inhibited tyrosinase expression in B16 cells that can be referred to their depigmentation effect. The results indicate that the essential oils from M. aquatica var. Citrata Lime Mint can be further development into skin-whitening or pigmentation reduction products.