Oregano (Origanum vulgare L.) is one of the most selled culinary and medicinal herb throughout the world. Flowering aerial parts and leaves of oregano have been used as a popular flavoring of food stuffs and as an antioxidant agent in cosmetics. Oregano contains a wide array of active components, including flavonoids, phenolic acids and glucosides, phenols and triterpenes.Several biological activities namely antibacterial, antifungal, antiviral, antidiabetic, antispasmodic, antimelanogenesis and antiproliferative have been demonstrated for oreganobased essential oils and extracts. Among the main bioactive constituents of these products, the phenols carvacrol and thymol, and the phenolic rosmarinic acid and origanoside proved to be strong antioxidant, anti-inflammatory and cardioprotective agents.

Background: Treatment of hyperpigmentation disorders is a challenge because of the side effects of current topical treatments. Thus, research for potent alternatives, especially of herbal origin, with comparable potency and less side effects is ongoing. Morus alba L. is a perennial plant with multiple established pharmacological effects, including antimelanogenesis effect. This effect has been demonstrated from different parts of the plant, including twigs, root barks, and leaves by measuring tyrosinase inhibition, melanin content, and melanin index, and it has been attributed to phenolic compounds such as oxyresveratrol and moracin M, to name a few. However, no study has considered formulating the total phenolic compounds from the leaves of this plant so far. Objectives: The aim of this study was to extract phenolic compounds of leaves with repeated maceration using 70% ethanol, formulate the crude extract, inspect its physicochemical stability under accelerated conditions, and assay for microbial growth and active phenolic compounds. Methods: Total phenolic compounds were extracted using 70% ethanol with repeated maceration, and then they were concentrated. The extract was then assayed for total phenolic content using Folin-Ciocalteu’, s reagent. A 3% cream of this extract was manufactured, and its physicochemical parameters, microbial growth, preservative effectiveness, and total phenolic content were examined. Results: The prepared 3% cream was completely stable and homogeneous during the accelerated conditions and passed the physicochemical, total phenolic content, and microbial tests. Conclusions: The manufactured cream is a promising formulation for in vivo use as a skin lightening agent.

Introduction: Tyrosinase is considered an important target of melanin biosynthesis inhibitors. Curcuma longa L. has been used in the Javanese traditional whitening cosmetics. This work aimed to explore the effect of C. longa extracts on mushroom tyrosinase activity and the cytotoxicity of the extract towards murine skin cancer B16F10 cells. Methods: C. longa rhizomes were cold-extracted using ethanol 70% and yielded 15. 3% w/w of extract (ECL). The presence of curcuminoids in ECL was determined by reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatography (RP-HPLC). ECL was assessed for its inhibitory effects on mushroom tyrosinase activity using L-DOPA as substrate and kojic acid as the positive control drug. The cytotoxicity of ECL and curcumin was studied in B16F10 cells. Results: Triplet peaks of RP-HPLC chromatogram revealed that curcuminoids were available in ECL. The level of bisdemethoxycurcumin was 6. 3306% (tR = 12. 646 minutes), demethoxycurcumin was 3. 1414% (tR = 13. 675 minutes), and curcumin was 8. 3754% (tR = 14. 802 minutes). ECL had a weak inhibitory activity towards mushroom tyrosinase with IC50 = 564. 8 μ, g/mL, while the IC50 = of kojic acid was 55. 70 μ, g/mL. Both ECL and kojic acid had moderate toxicity to B16F10 cells (IC50 survival growth rates were 98. 06 μ, g/mL and 65. 54 μ, g/mL, respectively). Curcumin was highly toxic to B16F10 cells (IC50 = 14. 42 μ, g/mL). Conclusion: Taken together, ECL might be able to prevent melanogenesis via the inhibition of tyrosinase activity, and interestingly, it could inhibit the growth of murine skin cancer B16F10 cells. However, further studies are needed to verify its antimelanogenesis and anticancer properties.

Purpose: The aim of this study was to characterize the undecylenoyl phenylalanine (Sepiwhite (SEPI))-loaded nanostructured lipid carriers (NLCs) as a new antimelanogenesis compound. Methods: In this study, an optimized SEPI-NLC formulation was prepared and characterized for particle size, zeta potential, stability, and encapsulation efficiency. Then, in vitro drug loading capacity and the release profile of SEPI, and its cytotoxicity were investigated. The ex vivo skin permeation and the anti-tyrosinase activity of SEPI-NLCs were also evaluated. Results: The optimized SEPI-NLC formulation showed the size of 180. 1 ±,5. 01 nm, a spherical morphology under TEM, entrapment efficiency of 90. 81 ±,3. 75%, and stability for 9 months at room temperature. The differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) analysis exhibited an amorphous state of SEPI in NLCs. In addition, the release study demonstrated that SEPI-NLCs had a biphasic release outline with an initial burst release compared to SEPI-EMULSION. About 65% of SEPI was released from SEPI-NLC within 72 h, while in SEPI-EMULSION, this value was 23%. The ex vivo permeation profiles revealed that the higher SEPI accumulation in the skin following application of SEPI-NLC (up to 88. 8%) compared to SEPI-EMULSION (65%) and SEPI-ETHANOL (74. 8%) formulations (P < 0. 01). An inhibition rate of 72% and 65% was obtained for mushroom and cellular tyrosinase activity of SEPI, respectively. Moreover, results of in vitro cytotoxicity assay confirmed SEPI-NLCs to be non-toxic and safe for topical use. Conclusion: The results of this study demonstrate that NLC can efficiently deliver SEPI into the skin, which has a promise for topical treatment of hyperpigmentation.