Screening of ninety herbal products of commercial interest as potential ingredients for phytocosmetics.

Elastase and tyrosinase are important targets both for cosmetics and for dermatological disorders. In this work, ninety herbal products were tested as inhibitors of these two enzymes. Eleven extracts resulted strongly active. Four out of them (, , , ) inhibited both enzymes, five (, , , , ) were active against tyrosinase only, and two ( and ) proved selectively active against elastase. The IC ranged from 3.1 to 104.9 μg/mL and 19.3 to 164.3 μg/mL, against elastase and tyrosinase, respectively. The most active extracts resulted enriched in flavonoids (from 1.47 to 56.47 mg RE/g of extract) and phenolics (from 37.43 to 123.56 mg GAE/g of extract), indicating also an antioxidant potential. Finally, a positive correlation between enzymatic bioactivities and phenolic content was also established.