Mushroom tyrosinase inhibitory effects of isoflavones isolated from soygerm koji fermented with Aspergillus oryzae BCRC 32288

The inhibition of mushroom tyrosinase in soygerm koji, fermented with Aspergillus oryzae BCRC 32288, was investigated. A methanol extract of the soygerm koji was partitioned into hexane, ethyl acetate and water. The ethyl acetate extract showed potent anti-tyrosinase activity with an IC₅₀ value of 0.19 mg/ml. The active compounds were isolated by activity-guided silica gel column chromatography and high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) methods. Seven tyrosinase inhibitors were purified and identified as 6,7,4′-trihydroxyisoflavone, 7,8,4′-trihydroxyisoflavone, 5,7,8,4′-tetrahydroxyisoflavone, 7,4′-dihydroxyisoflavone (daidzein), 6-methoxy-7,4′-dihydroxyisoflavone (glycitein), 4′-hydroxyisoflavone-7-O-glucoside (daidzin), and 5,4′-dihydroxyisoflavone-7-O-glucoside (genistin) by comparing their mass, ¹H NMR, and ¹³C NMR spectral data with those in the literature. The purified seven isoflavones from fermented soygerm koji were divided into two groups, based on their inhibitory effects on mushroom tyrosinase. Five isolated isoflavones showed inhibitory activity against monophenolase activity of mushroom tyrosinase only, with IC₅₀ values of 0.009 ± 0.001 (6,7,4′-trihydroxyisoflavone), 0.203 ± 0.018 (daidzein), 0.218 ± 0.007 (glycitein), 0.267 ± 0.008 (daidzin), and 0.343 ± 0.013 (genistin) mM. The kinetic study indicated that the five inhibitors significantly lengthened the lag time of the monophenolase activity of tyrosinase and acted competitively for the l-tyrosine binding site of the enzyme. So, the five isoflavones were competitive inhibitors for the monophenolase activity of tyrosinase. The other two isoflavones, 7,8,4′-trihydroxyisoflavone and 5,7,8,4′-tetrahydroxyisoflavone, inhibited both monophenolase and diphenolase activities of tyrosinase. Moreover, pre-incubation of each of the two isoflavones with tyrosinase resulted in total irreversible inhibition of the enzyme activity, even at concentrations as low as of 10 μM. Hence, 7,8,4′-trihydroxyisoflavone and 5,7,8,4′-tetrahydroxyisoflavone were irreversible inhibitors of mushroom tyrosinase.