Chemical constituents of Ruta graveolens L. and their melanogenic effects and action mechanism

Pazilaiti Ainiwaer; Mayire Nueraihemaiti; Zuopeng Li; Deng Zang; Lan Jiang; Ying Li; Haji Akber Aisa

doi:10.1016/j.fitote.2021.105094

Chemical constituents of Ruta graveolens L. and their melanogenic effects and action mechanism

Fitoterapia. 2022 Jan:156:105094. doi: 10.1016/j.fitote.2021.105094. Epub 2021 Dec 1.

Authors

Pazilaiti Ainiwaer¹, Mayire Nueraihemaiti¹, Zuopeng Li², Deng Zang², Lan Jiang², Ying Li³, Haji Akber Aisa⁴

Affiliations

¹ State Key Laboratory Basis of Xinjiang Indigenous Medicinal Plants Resource Utilization, Xinjiang Technical Institute of Physics and Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing South Road 40-1, Urumqi 830011, Xinjiang, China; University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100039, China.
² State Key Laboratory Basis of Xinjiang Indigenous Medicinal Plants Resource Utilization, Xinjiang Technical Institute of Physics and Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing South Road 40-1, Urumqi 830011, Xinjiang, China.
³ University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100039, China.
⁴ State Key Laboratory Basis of Xinjiang Indigenous Medicinal Plants Resource Utilization, Xinjiang Technical Institute of Physics and Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing South Road 40-1, Urumqi 830011, Xinjiang, China. Electronic address: haji@ms.xjb.ac.cn.

PMID: 34861325
DOI: 10.1016/j.fitote.2021.105094

Abstract

Ruta graveolens L. has been widely used to treat various skin ailments, especially vitiligo. In this study, we isolated a new furanocoumarin named Rutagrarin (1) along with 14 known compounds (2-15) from the aerial parts of R. graveolens and elucidated their chemical structures via various spectroscopy. We found that compound 5 promoted melanogenesis and tyrosinase activity in B16 cells. Further investigation on underlying mechanisms revealed that compound 5 activated the transcription of microtia-related transcription factors and promoted the production of melanin in B16 cells via the Akt/GSK-3β/β-catenin pathway. Therefore, we confirmed the traditional efficacy of R. graveolens and speculated that compound 5 could be used as a natural drug to treat vitiligo.

Keywords: Akt/GSK-3β/β-catenin; MITF; Melanogenesis; Ruta graveolens; Vitiligo.

MeSH terms

Animals
Blotting, Western
Cell Line, Tumor
Indoles / metabolism*
Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy
Melanins / analysis
Melanins / metabolism*
Melanoma, Experimental
Mice
Plant Extracts / chemistry
Plant Extracts / pharmacology*
Plant Extracts / therapeutic use
Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction
Ruta / chemistry*
Spectrophotometry, Infrared
Vitiligo / drug therapy

Substances

Indoles
Melanins
Plant Extracts
melanogen