Depigmenting Effect of Winter Medicinal Mushroom Flammulna velutipes (Higher Basidiomycetes) on Melanoma Cells

In humans, skin pigmentation results from the biochemichal synthesis and accumulation of melanin. We previously revealed that edible winter mushroom Flammulina velutipes extract inhibited melanosis in commercially available edible crustacea. Therefore, the current study was conducted to find if edible mushrooms extracts are useful for the skin whitening and the underlying mechanisms in melanin biosynthesis. Tyrosinase is one of the key enzymes for melanin biosynthesis. This study demonstrated that melanin synthesis and tyrosinase activity were suppressed by the F. velutipes extracts in B16 murine melanoma cells through the slow expression of microphthalmia-associated transcription factor. These results suggested that the F. velutipes extract could contain an effective component in whitening cosmetics and an alternative therapeutic agent for treating hyperpigmentation.