The Assessment of the Skin-Whitening and Anti-Wrinkling Effects of Anemarrhena asphodeloides Bunge Root Extracts and the Identification of Nyasol in a Developed Cream Product

Abstract

Anemarrhena asphodeloides Bunge (A. asphodeloides Bunge) root extract contains nyasol as its main ingredient. Nyasol was extracted and prepared as a cosmetic raw material in 95% ethanol. To identify nyasol as a marker compound qualitative analysis was performed using ultra-performance liquid chromatographyi coupled with electrospray ionization–tandem mass spectrometry. Below a nyasol content of 12 μg/mL, the root extract exhibited negligible cytotoxicity. In this concentration range, melanin production in B16F10 mouse melanoma cells decreased as the concentration of nyasol increased, indicating a skin-whitening effect. In addition, an antiwrinkling effect was confirmed by evaluating the inhibition of MMP-1 protein expression in TNF-α-treated HaCaT cells by either A. asphodeloides Bunge root extract (>0.31 μg/mL) or nyasol (>0.25 μg/mL). High-performance liquid chromatography-coupled with a photodiode detector array was used to show that our extract contained 5.06 ± 0.01% nyasol. Furthermore, when this analysis method was applied for the quality control of a cream product containing 2 wt.% of A. asphodeloides Bunge root extract, the measured content of nyasol (0.1%) was over 90% of the nominal quantity. Therefore, the product was deemed to be within the required quality standards.