title: The hunt for natural skin whitening agents.
abstract: Skin whitening products are commercially available for cosmetic purposes in order to obtain a lighter skin appearance. They are also utilized for clinical treatment of pigmentary disorders such as melasma or postinflammatory hyperpigmentation. Whitening agents act at various levels of melanin production in the skin. Many of them are known as competitive inhibitors of tyrosinase, the key enzyme in melanogenesis. Others inhibit the maturation of this enzyme or the transport of pigment granules (melanosomes) from melanocytes to surrounding keratinocytes. In this review we present an overview of (natural) whitening products that may decrease skin pigmentation by their interference with the pigmentary processes.
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Chemistry, room L02-56, Leiden University Medical Center, P.O. Box 9600, 2300 RC Leiden, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Nico
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Smit
authors.affiliation: DermData, Prague, Czech Republic.
authors.forename: Jana
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Vicanova
authors.affiliation: Department of Dermatology, Leiden University Medical Center, P.O. Box 9600, 2300 RC Leiden, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Stan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Pavel
mesh_terms: D004791:Enzyme Inhibitors / Q000494:pharmacology*; D006801:Humans; D008543:Melanins / Q000378:metabolism; D014442:Monophenol Monooxygenase / Q000037:antagonists & inhibitors / Q000378:metabolism; D012867:Skin / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000378:metabolism; D062327:Skin Lightening Preparations / Q000494:pharmacology*
chemical_list: D004791:Enzyme Inhibitors; D008543:Melanins; D062327:Skin Lightening Preparations; D014442:Monophenol Monooxygenase