Whitening Efficacy Evaluation of the Multi-Herb

The multi-Herb (mH) was prepared from 4 plant extracts including Phyllostachis Bambusoides, Sophora Flavescens Root, Lycium Barbarum Fruit and Pyracantha Fortuneana Fruit through ethanol extraction, filtration and concentration. Focus on tyrosinase activity and melanin content, mH repressed the activity of tyrosinase from mushroom and B16F1 cells to 49.2% and 76.2% respectively, at concentration of 3%. mH reduced the cellular melanin synthesis to 98.2% in nature and 92.1% under α-MSH induced melanogenesis respectively, showed a dose-dependently inhibitory effect. The human-skin test results showed that the skin melanin content (MI value) was significantly reduced by 12.3% after 7 weeks application of a cream containing 5% mH, better than arbutin of 2% concentration. All the results indicate that mH displays a good effect for whitening.