Eruca sativa (known as rocket plant) is a member of the Brassicaceae, which is considered an important chemo-preventive plant family. Although Eruca sativa has positive biological effects such as antioxidant and renal protective activities, the effect of the Eruca sativa extract as a therapeutic agent for skin whitening has not been reported. In this study, we investigated the applicability of the extract of Eruca sativa as a functional materials by examining the its physiological activities. The Eruca sativa extract showed low cytotoxicity against murine melanoma B16F10 cells. At concentrations (below 100 mg/L) that showed none or little cytotoxicity, the Eruca sativa extract showed high DPPH radical scavenging activity (ID50, 17.60 mg/L). In addition, the Eruca sativa extract inhibited tyrosinase activity (ID50, 132.54 mg/L) and decreased melanin content (ID50, 158.90 mg/L). Finally, the treatment with the Eruca sativa extract suppressed the protein expression of tyrosinase in a concentration-dependent manner. These findings suggested that the Eruca sativa extract inhibited melanin synthesis by not only suppressing intracellular tyrosinase expression but also directly inhibiting tyrosinase activity. Therefore, these results indicate that the Eruca sativa extract may be an effective material for functional cosmetics such as skin whitening materials.

• 김현수(중원대학교 식품공학과) | Hyun-Soo Kim Corresponding author