Tyrosinase Inhibitory Activity of Ethyl Acetate Extracts from Marine Sponge-Derived Fungi Haliclona fascigera

Tyrosinase plays an important role in catalyzing the biosynthesis of melanin which can be used as an approach to the skin hyperpigmentation and cosmetic. Finding natural resources of tyrosinase inhibitor were done through marine-derived fungi from the sponge Haliclona fascigera from South Coast of West Sumatera. Ethyl acetate extract of the marine-derived fungi was tested as a tyrosinase inhibitor. The inhibition assay was tested against diphenolase (DOPA), and kojic acid was used as a positive control (IC50, 29.61 mu g/ml). Four out of 20 the extract, WR3, WR4, WR9, and WR13, exhibited high inhibition (>50%) against diphenolase at the highest screening concentration with IC50 values 25.58, 72.70, 198.85 and 300.34 mu g/ml, respectively. In additional, phytochemical screening of the potential extracts showed that they contain phenolic compounds. This study gave as an overview of marine-derived fungi of sponge H. fascigera could be exploited as potential natural resources of tyrosinase inhibitors.