ArticlePloS one2020
Citric acid promoted melanin synthesis in B16F10 mouse melanoma cells, but inhibited it in human epidermal melanocytes and HMV-II melanoma cells via the GSK3β/β-catenin signaling pathway.
Article in PloS one, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 22 papers.
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Who cites it
22 citing papers in PubMed, 43 citations in OpenAlex.
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- Effect of Chicken Egg White-Derived Peptide and Hydrolysates on Abnormal Skin Pigmentation during Wound Recovery.Molecules (Basel, Switzerland) · 2022Article
- Recent Progress in the Study of Taste Characteristics and the Nutrition and Health Properties of Organic Acids in Foods.Foods (Basel, Switzerland) · 2022Review
- Imperatorin Positively Regulates Melanogenesis through Signaling Pathways Involving PKA/CREB, ERK, AKT, and GSK3β/β-Catenin.Molecules (Basel, Switzerland) · 2022Article
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- How Phosphofructokinase-1 Promotes PI3K and YAP/TAZ in Cancer: Therapeutic Perspectives.Cancers · 2022Article
- Recycled Sericin Hydrolysates Modified by AlcalaseInternational journal of molecular sciences · 2022Article
- Cajanin Suppresses Melanin Synthesis through Modulating MITF in Human Melanin-Producing Cells.Molecules (Basel, Switzerland) · 2021Article
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Authors and funding
2 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Melanin, a pigment synthesized by melanocytes in the skin, resists the damage caused by ultraviolet rays to cells. Citric acid, a well-known food additive, is commonly used as an antioxidant and is an important part of the tricarboxylic acid (TCA) cycle for energy production during cellular metabolism. Here, we aimed to investigate whether the addition of excess citric acid regulates melanin synthesis, and to delineate the underlying mechanism. First, we observed that citric acid exerts opposite redox effects on mouse and human cells. Interestingly, treatment with excess citric acid increased the melanin content in mouse cells but decreased it in human cells. Furthermore, the expression of factors important for melanin synthesis, such as microphthalmia-associated transcription factor (MITF), was also regulated by citric acid treatment-it was promoted in mouse cells and suppressed in human cells. Citric acid also impacted the upstream regulators of MITF, glycogen synthase kinase 3β (GSK3β), and β-catenin. Second, we determined the importance of GSK3β in the citric acid-mediated regulation of melanin synthesis, using a GSK3β inhibitor (BIO). To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study to show that citric acid regulates melanin synthesis via the GSK3β/β-catenin signaling pathway, and that equal amounts of exogenous citric acid exert opposing effects on mouse and human cells.
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