Poster presentation, P116

Official XXIst International Pigment Cell Conference website - 21-24 Sept 2011, Bordeaux - France | updated: September 04 2011

Inhibitory effects of NAG on pigmentation

SPEAKER J.S. Hwang #whois submiter ?
AUTHOR(s) J.S. Hwang, H.Y. Lee, T.-Y. Lim, T.-J. Yoon

Tyrosinase, an important enzyme for melanin production, is synthesized and glycosylated in the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) and Golgi. The enzyme is subsequently transported to melanosome where it participates in melanogenesis. N-acetyl-glucosamine (NAG) inhibits the glycosylation of tyrosinase accounting for its pigment-reducing abilities. Previous studies have shown that NAG effectively reduces the appearance of hyperpigmented spots and the production of melanin in skin equivalent cultures. In this study, we demonstrated that NAG decreases the pigmentation in human melanoma cell, brown guinea pig and human skin. NAG inhibits the α-glucosidase activity with dose-dependent manner and disrupts tyrosinase glycosylation in HM3KO human melanoma cell, showing similar results with well-known glycosylation inhibitor, deoxynojirimycin (DNJ). The color of cell pellet and melanin contents were also reduced by various concentrations of NAG and the tyrosinase activity was slightly inhibited in HM3KO melanoma cell. To investigate the in vivo effects of NAG, we applied topically the NAG solution (5% in propylene glycol:ethanol:water = 5:3:2) twice daily for 4 weeks in the dorsal skin of brown guinea pigs and for 8 weeks in the forearm of humans tanned by UV irradiation. As expected, the lightening effects were observed in the skin of both brown guinea pigs and humans in terms of ∆L value and histological analysis.



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Université de Bordeaux 2 & Conseil Régional Aquitaine