Screening of elastase and tyrosinase inhibitory activity from Jeju Island plants

To identify new active cosmetics ingredients of natural origin, we screened 299 parts of 263 plant species collected from Jeju Island, the southernmost island of the Korean Peninsula. Plant parts were investigated for their elastase and tyrosinase inhibitory activity for the purpose of identifying anti-aging and skin-whitening ingredients with the potential for use as raw materials in cosmetics. In the anti-elastase inhibition assay, 3 extracts, including Aesculus turbinata, Taxillus yadoriki, and Cornus walteri, showed high inhibitory activity (inhibition concentration ( I C ) 5 0<50 /vg/mL). The I C 5 0 of A. turbinata and T. yadoriki was 43.1 /vg/mL and 36.4 /vg/mL, respectively; C. walteri showed the highest elastase inhibition activity ( I C 5 0 = 26.1 /vg/mL). In the tyrosinase inhibition assay, 4 extracts, including C. walteri(139.2 vg/mL), Maackia fauriei (149.3 /vg/mL), Toxicodendron succedaneum (142.3 /vg/mL), and Sophora flavescens (41.6 v g/mL), showed significantly greater tyrosinase inhibition activity than the positive controls Distylium racemosum (145.9 /vg/mL) and arbutin (180.3 /vg/mL). However, they showed lower activity compared to the positive controls Morus alba (11.9 vg/mL) and Morus bombycis (22 v g/mL). These results suggest that medicinal plants possessing several biological activities may be potent inhibitors of the processes involved in pigmentation increases and aging. Further investigations will focus on in vivo assays and the chemical identification of the major active components responsible for anti-aging and whitening.