BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES Gastrodia elata Blume (GEB), a traditional herbal medicine, has been used to treat a wide range of neurological disorders (e.g., paralysis and stroke) and skin problems (e.g., atopic dermatitis and eczema) in oriental medicine. This study was designed to investigate whether GEB extract inhibits melanogenesis activity in murine B16F10 melanoma. MATERIALS/METHOD Murine B16...

Pears (Pyrus communis L. cv. ‘Rocha’) were exposed to air or controlled atmosphere (CA) containing various concentrations of CO2: 0, 0.5 and 5 kPa, all with 2 kPa O2. After 4 months of storage at 2 ◦C, the fruits were transferred to air at room temperature, and assessed in terms of soluble solids, titratable acidity, pH, incidence of brown heart and flesh browning, phenolic content, vitamin C c...

The modifying effects of topical application of the phenolic antioxidant protocatechuic acid (PA) on 12-O-tetradecanoylphorbol-13-acetate (TPA)-induced mouse skin tumor promotion were investigated. Dimethylbenz[a]anthracene-initiated female ICR mice were treated with TPA (1.6 nmol) twice weekly for 20 weeks to promote papilloma formation. Pre-treatment with 16nmol PA 30 min prior to each TPA tr...

BACKGROUND Phytoclear-EL1, an extract from Euphorbia lathyris seeds, has a whitening effect due to inhibition of tyrosinase activity. OBJECTIVE The purpose of this study was to investigate the inhibitory effect of phytoclear-EL1 on melanogenesis. METHODS Cultured B-16 melanoma cells and 30 human volunteers were used for in vitro and in vivo studies, respectively. Phytoclear-EL1 was added to...

In the past decade considerable advances have been achieved in the study of induced enzyme biosynthesis in microorganisms. A comparison of three of the better studied systems, P-galactosidase in Escherichia coli (l), penicillinase in Bacillus cereus (2), and oc-glucosidase in Xaccharomyces cerevisiae (3) indicates that there are a number of differences in these inductions. In order to compare f...