Abstract In the present study, rice bran, one of the most abundant agricultural by-products in
Malaysia, was fermented with single and mixed cultures of Aspergillus oryzae and Rhizopus oryzae.
The fermented rice bran extracts were tested for their functional properties and compared to the
non-fermented counterparts. Antioxidant activities as well as phenolics and organic acid contents
were evaluated. Skincare-related functionalities were also tested by evaluating tyrosinase and
elastase inhibition activities. Tyrosinase inhibition activity, measured to determine the antipigmentation
effect of extracts, was found to be the highest in the extract of rice bran fermented
with A. oryzae (56.18%) compared to other extracts. In determining the anti-aging effect of
fermented rice bran extracts, the same extract showed the highest elastase inhibition activity with
a value of 60.52%. Antioxidant activities were found to be highest in the mix-cultured rice bran
extract. The results of phenolic and organic acid content were varied; the major phenolic acid
detected was ferulic acid with a value of 43.19 lg/ml in the mix-cultured rice bran extract. On
the other hand, citric acid was the major organic acid detected, with the highest content found in
the same extract (214.6 mg/g). The results of this study suggest that the fermented rice bran extracts
may have the potential to be further exploited as ingredients in cosmetics as well as in antioxidantrich
products.