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Inhibition of melanogenesis by the extract from Agaricus blazei without affecting iNOS gene expression

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Abstract

Tyrosinase is a key enzyme in melanin synthesis. Owing to enlargement of availability of edible types of mushrooms in food medicines, we investigated effects of Agaricus blazei (ABE) on tyrosinase activity using l-tyrosine and l-3, 4-dihydroxyphenylalanine (l-DOPA) as the substrate in normal human epidermal melanocytes (NHEM). ABE inhibited tyrosinase activity similar to arbutin and Vitamin C as two whitening agents in a dose dependent manner. In agreement with this, treatment of the cells with ABE (3–100 μg/ml) reduced melanin content up to 57% of the control in NHEM. In addition, production of nitric oxide (NO) which has the ability of inducing tyrosinase activity in melanocytes was also suppressed by ABE treatment. Furthermore, ABE inhibited NO production in lipopolysaccharides (LPS)-stimulated RAW264.7 macrophages, in a dose dependent manner but without affecting iNOS mRNA expression indicated by reverse transcription-PCR (RT-PCR) technique. These findings suggest that ABE inhibits melanin production via partial inhibition of tyrosinase activity and NO production. This hypopigmenting effect of water soluble Agaricus blazei extract could be useful for the treatment of some skin disorders.

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Acknowledgments

The authors acknowledge Prof. Ito (Department of Public Health, Gifu University, Japan) for kindly providing RAW264.7 cell line.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Animal Husbandry (Management, Genetic, Breeding, Production and Behavior), Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Sohag University, Sohag, Egypt

    Motamed Elsayed Mahmoud

  2. Department of Genetic, Faculty of Agriculture, Assiut University, Assiut, Egypt

    Abd El-Latif Hesham

  3. Department of Histology, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, South Valley University, Qena, Egypt

    Yasser Abdel-Galil Ahmed

  4. Department of Food Hygiene, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Assiut University, Assiut, Egypt

    Mohammed Sayed

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  1. Motamed Elsayed Mahmoud
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  2. Abd El-Latif Hesham
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  3. Yasser Abdel-Galil Ahmed
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  4. Mohammed Sayed
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Correspondence to Motamed Elsayed Mahmoud.

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Mahmoud, M.E., Hesham, A.EL., Ahmed, Y.AG. et al. Inhibition of melanogenesis by the extract from Agaricus blazei without affecting iNOS gene expression. World J Microbiol Biotechnol 26, 2029–2035 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11274-010-0387-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11274-010-0387-6

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