Asian J Beauty Cosmetol. 2010; 8(1): 111-120.

Anti-oxidant and Whitening Effects of Curcuma longa L.

Eun-young Park, Sun-jung Hur, Kyoung-young Kim, Wan-kyun), Whang, and Ki-sook Yang

To search for new skin-lighting agents, the inhibitory property of Curcuma longa extract and five fractions (hexane, dichloromethane, ethylacetate, butanol, water) on melanogenesis and antioxidative activities were investigated. The inhibitory action of Curcuma longa extracts and fractions on mushroom tyrosinase was revealed. To explore the action of extracts and fractions on melanogenesis, the inhibition of tyrosinase and melanin contents were measured in B16F10 melanoma cells. Results show that ethylacetate>methanol>butanol>dichloromethane>hexane fractions of Curcuma longa has strong antioxidative activities, IC50 was 8.01 μg/mL (ascorbic acid IC50 10.76 μg/mL). Inhibition of tyrosinase activity, ethylacetate fraction of Curcuma longa was IC50 31.40μg/mL(ascorbic acid IC50 16.06 μg/mL). Also, ethylacetate fraction of Curcuma longa reduced melanin contents in B16F10 cells. Therefore, this data indicate Curcuma longa as a potential pigmentation reagents.

Keywords : Curcuma longa, Antioxidant, Tyrosinase, Melanoma cell