A new mechanism of action for skin whitening agents: binding to the peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor

Synopsis Octadecenedioic acid is known as a skin whitening agent but its activity is not mediated via a direct inhibition of tyrosinase. Based on the secondary properties of this molecule, such as its anti-inflammatory and anti-ageing effects, we postulated that octadecenedioic acid interacted with the peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor (PPAR) as this nuclear receptor also mediates these effects. Using reporter gene technology, we were indeed able to demonstrate binding of octadecenedioic acid to all three PPAR subtypes, in particular PPARgamma with an EC(50)-value of approx. 1 x 10(-6) m. Binding to PPARgamma of octadecenedioic acid or rosiglitazone, a known pharmaceutical PPARgamma agonist, led to reduced melanogenesis. Subsequently also tyrosinase mRNA (as measured by real-time polymerase chain reaction) and tyrosinase levels (as measured by Western blot) were reduced, suggesting the existence of a complete novel mechanism of skin whitening agents: binding to PPARgamma results in reduced tyrosinase mRNA expression which in turn results in less tyrosinase being formed. This in turn leads to reduced melanogenesis both in vitro and in vivo Because octadecenedioic acid binds not only to PPARgamma but also to PPARalpha and PPARdelta, other efficacies mediated via these receptors may also be expected.     

Use of highly variable gene (yycH) as DNA marker to resolve interspecific relationships within the Lactobacillus casei group and a target for developing novel species-specific PCR primers

Identifying Lactobacillus species group using only phenotypic and genotypic (16S rDNA sequence homology analysis) techniques yields inaccurate results. In this study, the partial yycH gene sequence was used for species discrimination by direct DNA sequencing and as target in a species-specific PCR assay. All examined Lactobacillus strains were clearly distinguished from the closely related species by comparative sequence analysis of the yycH gene. The average sequence similarity for the yycH gene (78.5 %) among type strains was significantly lower than that of the 16S rRNA sequence (99.0 %). Therefore, the yycH gene can be proposed as an additional molecular marker for Lactobacillus casei group that provides higher resolution than 16S rRNA. In addition, the species-specific primers were also developed based on the yycH gene sequences, which were then employed for PCR using the template DNA of Lactobacter strains. The PCR primer pairs were shown to be specific for Lactobacillus paracasei and Lactobacillus rhamnosus. Our data indicate that the phylogenetic relationships in the L. casei group are easily resolved by direct sequencing of the yycH gene and combined with species-specific PCR assays.