Identification of Novel Melanin Synthesis Inhibitors From Crataegus pycnoloba Using an in Vivo Zebrafish Phenotypic Assay.

ABSTRACT: Zebrafish has emerged as a powerful model organism for high throughput drug screening. Several morphological criteria, transgenic lines and in situ expression screens have been developed to identify novel bioactive compounds and their mechanism of action. Here, we used the inhibition of melanogenesis during early zebrafish embryo development to identify natural compounds that block melanogenesis. We identified an extract from the Greek hawthorn Crataegus pycnoloba as a potent inhibitor of melanin synthesis and used activity based subfractionation to identify active subfractions and eventually three single compounds of the same family (dibenzofurans). These compounds show reversible inhibition of melanin synthesis and do not act via inhibition of tyrosinase. We also showed tha

SUBMITTER: Agalou A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5879087 | biostudies-literature | 2018

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature