title: Stimulation of mouse melanocyte proliferation by Piper nigrum fruit extract and its main alkaloid, piperine.
abstract: During a herbal screening programme to find potential repigmenting agents for the treatment of vitiligo, Piper nigrum L. fruit (black pepper) extract was found to possess growth-stimulatory activity towards cultured melanocytes. Its aqueous extract at 0.1 mg/ml was observed to cause nearly 300% stimulation of the growth of a cultured mouse melanocyte line, melan-a, in 8 days (p < 0.01). Piperine (1-piperoylpiperidine), the main alkaloid from Piper nigrum fruit, also significantly stimulated melan-a cell growth. Both Piper nigrum extract and piperine induced morphological alterations in melan-a cells, with more and longer dendrites observed. The augmentation of growth by piperine was effectively inhibited by RO-31-8220, a selective protein kinase C (PKC) inhibitor, suggesting that PKC signalling is involved in its activity. This is the first full report on such an activity of black pepper and piperine.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmacy, King's College London, U.K.
authors.forename: Z
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Lin
authors.forename: J R
authors.initials: JR
authors.lastname: Hoult
authors.forename: D C
authors.initials: DC
authors.lastname: Bennett
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Raman
mesh_terms: D000470:Alkaloids; D000818:Animals; D052117:Benzodioxoles; D002455:Cell Division / Q000187:drug effects; D002460:Cell Line; D005638:Fruit / Q000737:chemistry; D008543:Melanins / Q000096:biosynthesis; D008544:Melanocytes / Q000166:cytology / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000378:metabolism; D051379:Mice; D008934:Mitogens / Q000494:pharmacology*; D010880:Piperidines / Q000494:pharmacology*; D010936:Plant Extracts / Q000494:pharmacology; D010946:Plants, Medicinal / Q000737:chemistry*; D053284:Polyunsaturated Alkamides
chemical_list: D000470:Alkaloids; D052117:Benzodioxoles; D008543:Melanins; D008934:Mitogens; D010880:Piperidines; D010936:Plant Extracts; D053284:Polyunsaturated Alkamides; C008922:piperine