Investigation of Inhibitory Activity of Selected Plant Extracts on Tyrosinase Extracted from Solanum tuberosum

The aim of this work was to analyse the inhibitory activity of methanolic extracts of Artocarpus heterophyllus, Artocarpus altilis, Piper betel and Cinnamomum zeylanicum on Potato (Solanum tuberosum) tyrosinase at varying concentrations. Tyrosinase or Phenol oxidase is a copper containing monooxygenase which acts as the principal enzyme for the synthesis of melanin in melanocytes. Melanin overproduction results in undesirable hyper pigmentation of the skin. One of the important ways to prevent the biosynthesis of melanin is by the inhibition of proliferation and metabolism of melanocytes by tyrosinase inhibition. The present study intends to screen novel tyrosinase inhibitors from natural sources like plants which would help minimize the toxicity and side effects of the drugs currently used in health care and medicine to treat skin disorders. The results of the conducted studies showed that the methanolic extracts of Piper betel showed the maximum antityrosinase activity followed by Cinnamomum zeylanicum and Artocarpus altilis whereas Artocarpus heterophyllus extract exhibited poor antityrosinase activity. The tyrosinase inhibition assay showed that the four methanolic plant extracts namely Artocarpus heterophyllus (148.62ìg/mL), Artocarpus altilis (85.40ìg/mL), Piper betel (67.06ìg/mL), and Cinnamomum zeylanicum (65ìg/mL), showed 50% tyrosinase inhibition activity at the mentioned concentrations.