The whitening components separated from a traditional Chinese medicine – Radix Trichosanthis (Tian Hua Fen)

Radix Trichosanthis, so called Tian Hua Fen is the roots of Trichosanthes and has been used on swelling and hyperactivity therapy as a chinese medicine for thousands years. ” Tang Materia Medica” mentioned that Radix Trichosanthis have the effect on whitening of skin[1]. However, research on the whitening effect and the mechanism of compounds in Radix Trichosanthis has not been investigated deeply. It is worth mentioning that the crude extracts of Radix Trichosanthis shows dose-dependent inhibition effect of melanin. So we try to investigate the whitening components in Radix Trichosanthis.

Radix Trichosanthis will be extracted by methanol, then the extracts will be purified and separated by column chromatography and high performance liquid chromatography. The structure of compounds we get will be identified by the Nuclear Magnetic Resonance and followed by assay for their capacity to affect melanogenesis. Thirteen compounds be separated, including benzoic acid, steroids and triterpenoids. Bryonolic, one of the triterpenoids get from Radix Trichosanthis shows the effective of melanin inhibition. The following mechanism of whitening effect and melanogenesis of components in Radix Trichosanthis still need more research to confirm.

[1] Tang Materia Medica, Su Jing et al. written in 659 AD, its a traditional Chinese medicine literature