The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of microencapsulation on the water absorption, DPPH radical scavenging activity (DRSA), hydroxyl radical scavenging activity (HRSA) and tyrosinase inhibition activity (TIA) in corn silk extracts. The lowest value (0.20) of water absorption index (WAI) and the highest value (95.23%) of water solubility index (WSI) were maltodextrin+cyclodextrin microencapulated corn silk extracts (MD+CD) and cyclodextrin encapulated corn silk extracts (CD), respectively. The 18.60% for DRSA value of control was increased to 89.25% for that of CD. The 16.89% for HRSA value of control was increased to 47.46%, and 7.16% for TIA value of control was increased to 39.35% for that of MD+CD, respectively. The MD+CD would be used for functional food and cosmetics materials as antioxidant and skin whitening agents. All investigated responses between control and treatment were statistically significant (p<0.05).

We investigated the antioxidative and protective effects of corn silk (Zea mays L.) ethanol extracts on human HaCaT cells and erythrocytes. The NICS-2 fraction, extracted from corn silk, exhibited favorable 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) and 2-azino-bis-(3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulphonic acid (ABTS) radical scavenging activities with IC50valuesof13.3± 0.3 μg/mL and 14.2 ± 0.1 μg/mL when compared with those of α-tocopherol, a positive control, with IC50=10.4± 02.2 and 22.2 ± 3.6 μg/mL, respectively. In addition, we investigated skin protection effects of NICS extracts of corn silk in HaCaT keratinocytes. To investigate the pharmacological potential of NICS-1 and NICS-2 extracts of corn silk on UV-B-induced damage in HaCaT cells, we measured the activity of interleukin (IL) 1a. Our results showed that all the corn silk extracts inhibited the UV-B-induced activity of IL-1a. In particular, NICS-1 extracts of corn silk significantly suppressed IL-1a activity in a dose-dependent manner without inducing cytotoxicity. These results indicate that the ethanol extracts of corn silk (Zea mays L.) could function as natural cytoprotective agents and antioxidants in biological systems, particularly the skin exposed to UV radiation, by protecting cellular membrane against reactive oxygen species (ROS).