which is a substrate for melanosis reaction.
Prasad et al. (2009) reported the antityrosinase activity from litchi
(Litchi sinesis Sonn.) seed extract powder. Mimosine also had the
metal chelating ability (Puchala et al., 1996), which could chelate
a copper ion at the active site of PPO. The lower PPO inhibitory
activity of LSEP was due to the lower level of mimosine in the LSEP
solution, compared with the pure mimosine solution used
(P < 0.05). LSEP not only contained mimosine, but also other water
soluble components. As a consequence, mimosine was diluted by
these other compounds. Nevertheless, some phenolic compounds
in LSEP might act as PPO inhibitors. Total phenolic content in
0.05 and 0.1 g LSEP was 0.0087 and 0.0174 g GAE, respectively.
However, the presence of both mimosine and phenolic compounds
in LSEP had the lower PPO inhibitory activity in comparison with
pure mimosine at the same level used (P < 0.05). Although the
amount of mimosine in LSEP was approximately 12-fold lower