The Glutathione Derivative, GSH Monoethyl Ester, May Effectively Whiten Skin but GSH Does Not

Chung, Bo Young; Choi, So Ra; Moon, Ik Jun; Park, Chun Wook; Kim, Young-Hoon; Chang, Sung Eun

doi:10.3390/ijms17050629

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The Glutathione Derivative, GSH Monoethyl Ester, May Effectively Whiten Skin but GSH Does Not

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^3,*,† and

^2,*,†

Department of Dermatology, College of Medicine, Hallym University Kangnam Sacred Heart Hospital, Seoul 07441, Korea

Department of Dermatology, Asan Medical Center, University of Ulsan College of Medicine, 88 Olympic-ro 43-gil, Songpa-gu, Seoul 05505, Korea

Department of Pharmacology, University of Ulsan College of Medicine, 88 Olympic-ro 43-gil, Songpa-gu, Seoul 05505, Korea

Authors to whom correspondence should be addressed.

^†

These authors contributed equally to this work.

Academic Editor: Terrence Piva

Int. J. Mol. Sci. 2016, 17(5), 629; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms17050629

Received: 14 March 2016 / Revised: 18 April 2016 / Accepted: 21 April 2016 / Published: 27 April 2016

(This article belongs to the Section Bioactives and Nutraceuticals)

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Abstract

Glutathione in its reduced form (GSH) is an antioxidant and also is involved in pheomelanin formation. Thus, it has been long believed that GSH has a skin whitening effect. However, its actual or direct effect is unproven. We evaluated the anti-melanogenic effects of GSH and its derivatives in vitro. We examined change of melanogenesis and its related proteins by GSH itself and its derivatives, including GSH monoethyl ester (GSH-MEE), GSH diethyl ester (GSH-DEE) and GSH monoisopropyl ester (GSH-MIPE) in Melan-A cells, Mel-Ab cells, and B16F10 cells. GSH and GSH-MEE did not display cytotoxic activity, but GSH-MIPE and GSH-DEE did. Intriguingly, GSH itself had no inhibitory effect on melanin production or intracellular tyrosinase activity. Rather, it was GSH-MEE and GSH-MIPE that profoundly reduced the amount of melanin and intracellular tyrosinase activity. Thus, GSH-MEE was selected as a suitable candidate skin-whitening agent and it did not alter melanogenesis-associated proteins such as microphthalmia-associated transcription factor (MITF), tyrosinase, tyrosinase-related protein (TRP)-1, and TRP-2, but it did increase the amount of suggested pheomelanin and suggested pheomelanin/eumelanin ratio. GSH-MEE was effective for anti-melanogenesis, whereas GSH itself was not. GSH-MEE could be developed as a safe and efficient agent for the treatment of hyperpigmentation skin disorders. View Full-Text

Keywords: glutathione derivatives; glutathione monoethyl ester; melanogenesis; pheomelanin

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MDPI and ACS Style

Chung, B.Y.; Choi, S.R.; Moon, I.J.; Park, C.W.; Kim, Y.-H.; Chang, S.E. The Glutathione Derivative, GSH Monoethyl Ester, May Effectively Whiten Skin but GSH Does Not. Int. J. Mol. Sci. 2016, 17, 629. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms17050629

AMA Style

Chung BY, Choi SR, Moon IJ, Park CW, Kim Y-H, Chang SE. The Glutathione Derivative, GSH Monoethyl Ester, May Effectively Whiten Skin but GSH Does Not. International Journal of Molecular Sciences. 2016; 17(5):629. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms17050629

Chicago/Turabian Style

Chung, Bo Y., So R. Choi, Ik J. Moon, Chun W. Park, Young-Hoon Kim, and Sung E. Chang. 2016. "The Glutathione Derivative, GSH Monoethyl Ester, May Effectively Whiten Skin but GSH Does Not" International Journal of Molecular Sciences 17, no. 5: 629. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms17050629

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The Glutathione Derivative, GSH Monoethyl Ester, May Effectively Whiten Skin but GSH Does Not

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