Effects of vitamin C vs. multivitamin on melanogenesis: comparative study in vitro and in vivo

Abstract Background Vitamin C has been used for the treatment of hyperpigmented diseases. However, there is no study available on hypopigmenting effect of multivitamin. Objectives To investigate the inhibitory effects of multivitamin and vitamin C on melanogenesis. Methods We assessed the effect of multivitamin and vitamin C on cell viability, melanogenesis, and mushroom tyrosinase. The antioxidant activity of multivitamin and vitamin C was measured. We performed the Western blot analysis to study the effect of multivitamin and vitamin C on the expression of tyrosinase, microphthalmia‐associated transcription factor (MITF), extracellular signal‐regulated kinase (ERK), and Akt/protein kinase B. In a clinical trial, 20 melasma patients were treated with split face iontophoresis using either multivitamin or vitamin C. We evaluated the hypopigmenting effects of multivitamin and vitamin C through colorimetric measurement. Results Both vitamin C and multivitamin inhibited melanogenesis with low cytotoxicity. Multivitamin reduced melanin contents greater than vitamin C. However, the effects of vitamin C are greater than those of multivitamin on mushroom tyrosinase inhibition and antioxidation. In the Western blot, the reduced tyrosinase expression and MITF level were observed only in multivitamin‐treated group, and not in vitamin C‐treated group. No changes of ERK and Akt activation were observed in both multivitamin and vitamin C‐treated groups. After 12 weeks of treatment with iontophoresis, both multivitamin and vitamin C were effective for melasma. Conclusions Multivitamin has shown more anti‐melanogenic effect than vitamin C via the downregulation of MITF.