## 3 Results
### Tyrosine Inhibitory Activity in SF and SSF Extracts in Different Solvents  
UV exposure elicits melanin production by melanocytes found in the basal layer of the skin to prevent UV-induced skin damage, and tyrosinase is known to facilitate the production of melanin. An increase in melanin production could cause pigmentation, such  
\begin{table}
\begin{tabular}{c c c c c c c} \hline \multirow{2}{*}{**Solvent**} & \multicolumn{2}{c}{**Collagenase Inhibitory Activity (\%)**} & \multicolumn{2}{c}{**Elastase Inhibitory Activity (\%)**} & \multicolumn{2}{c}{**Tyrosinase Inhibition Activity (\%)**} \\ \cline{2-7}  & **SF** & **SSF** & **SF** & **SSF** & **SF** & **SSF** \\ \hline Ethanol & 28.7 \(\pm\) 0.9 \({}^{\text{a}}\) & 32.0 \(\pm\) 0.3 \({}^{\text{b}}\) & 68.6 \(\pm\) 0.1 \({}^{\text{a}}\) & 44.7 \(\pm\) 0.1 \({}^{\text{a}}\) & 14.9 \(\pm\) 2.3 \({}^{\text{c}}\) & 25.1 \(\pm\) 1.1 \({}^{\text{b}}\) \\ Methanol & 25.6 \(\pm\) 3.4 \({}^{\text{ab}}\) & 56.9 \(\pm\) 4.9 \({}^{\text{a}}\) & 39.8 \(\pm\) 0.2 \({}^{\text{b}}\) & 16.0 \(\pm\) 0.7 \({}^{\text{b}}\) & 23.3 \(\pm\) 0.8 \({}^{\text{b}}\) & 30.5 \(\pm\) 0.1 \({}^{\text{a}}\) \\ Water & 23.1 \(\pm\) 0.1 \({}^{\text{b}}\) & 28.9 \(\pm\) 0.5 \({}^{\text{b}}\) & 14.0 \(\pm\) 0.1 \({}^{\text{c}}\) & 12.4 \(\pm\) 0.3 \({}^{\text{c}}\) & 28.2 \(\pm\) 0.2 \({}^{\text{a}}\) & 22.9 \(\pm\) 1.7 \({}^{\text{b}}\) \\ \hline \end{tabular}  
* SF: _fusiforme_ extract, SSF: Steamed _S. fusiforme_ extract. The different lowercase letters represent significant differences in the same column (\(p\) < 0.05).  
\end{table}
Table 3: Collagenase, elastase, and tyrosinase inhibitory activities of fresh and steamed _Sargassum fusiforme_ extracts.  
as freckles, sun spots, and age spots. Hence, inhibition of tyrosinase activity is crucial in skin whitening [76].  
SF water extract showed the highest tyrosinase inhibitory activity at 28.2%, followed by methanol and ethanol extracts at 23.3% and 14.9%, respectively. For SSF, the methanol extract showed the highest activity at 30.5%, followed by ethanol and water extracts at 25.1% and 22.9%, respectively. SSF methanol and ethanol extracts showed 1.3-fold and 1.7-fold higher tyrosinase inhibitory activity, respectively, than corresponding SF extracts (30.5% vs. 23.3% and 25.1% vs. 14.9%). On the contrary, the tyrosinase inhibitory activity in SF water extract (28.2%) was 1.2-fold higher than that of SSF water extract (22.9%).  
In a study examining the tyrosinase inhibitory activity in 11 species of marine algae of the Sargassum family as with SF [77], the activity was the highest in 70% ethanol extracts at 50.07 mg kojic acid (KAE) /g and 52.65 mg KAE/g for _S. filliciinum_ and _S. yendoi_, respectively; however, the total phenolic and flavonoid contents in the two marine algae species were not high, and the study reported that the tyrosinase inhibitory activity was greatly influenced by the phenolic composition rather than the content. Similarly, the total polyphenol content in the present study was lower in the SF water extract than that of the SF methanol extract, whereas the tyrosinase inhibitory activity was the highest in the SF water extract, indicating that the tyrosinase inhibitory activity could be influenced by non-phenolic compounds. The evaluation of tyrosinase inhibitory activity according to the extraction solvent showed that the activity was the highest in the SF water extract (28.2%) and SSF methanol extract (30.5%), with SF mostly exhibiting a higher activity than SSF, suggesting an influence of steaming on the antioxidant activity as well as the whitening effect based on the changes in the bioactive substances in SF.