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. 2016 Apr 27;17(5):629. doi: 10.3390/ijms17050629

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© 2016 by the authors; licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.

This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC-BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).

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Possible effects of GSH-MEE, GSH, and cysteine on melanogenesis. GSH synthesize intracellularly and exported to extracellular space. Cellular uptake of GSH itself is not probable. GSH-MEE cross the biological membranes by simple diffusion and metabolize intracellularly to generate GSH. Cysteine is readily transported across cell membranes but potentially toxic at high concentrations due to generation of reactive oxygen species and depletion of pyridoxal phosphate. GSH-MEE (but not GSH itself) could suppress the melanin production and tyrosinase activity and raise the suggested pheomelanin/eumelanin ratio. black arrows, melanin synthesis process flow; dotted black arrows, transport process flows of GSH, cysteine, and cysteine, bold black arrows, transport process flow of GSH-MEE; question marks, not yet confirmed; +, positive effects (activation); −, negative effects (suppression); purple shape, membrane channel. GSH, reduced glutathione; GSH-MEE, GSH monoethyl ester; DOPA, dihydroxyphenylalanine; DQ, dopaquinone.