Cassia alata leaf methanolic extracts decreased melanin pigmentation in Zebrafish

Anonymous

by: Francheska Marie U. Lelina, Rolly G. Fuentes

Abstract

This study aims to evaluate the antimelanogenic activity of terrestial plants Cassia alata, Capsicum frutescens, Tabernaemontana pandacaqui, Colocasia esculenta and Alocasia macrorhizos which are known to have medicinal value. The antimelanogenic activity was determined using the zebrafish model. Embryos at 9 hr post fertilization (hpf) were treated with the crude extracts of each plant at 50 μg/mL and 100 μg/mL concentrations and were exposed up to 55 hpf. Ocular melanin content was estimated using Image J. C. alata leaf extracts showed the most promising antimelanogenic activity among the plant samples tested. Dosedependent assay showed that at 500 μg/mL, 70% of the embryos had profound decrease in melanin. At the same concentration, the ocular melanin content of the zebrafish decreased 2-fold. Results suggest that the leaf of C. alata is a potential source of compounds with inhibitory activity against melanin production.

Keywords: Spawning, Ocular melanin, Kojic acid, tyrosinase, Fabaceae