Efficacy Assessment of Whitening Cosmetics in Animal Models

Animal skin is generally preferred to evaluate the efficacy and safety: several animal models have been used, e.g., the guinea pig, the mouse, and the zebrafish. The epidermis of guinea pigs displays a moderate number of melanocytes and melanosomes distributed in a similar way to human skin. Guinea pig and human skins have given the close morphologic and functional similarities(similar epidermis thickness, similar epidermal cells turnover time, etc.). The zebrafish presents several advantages, including easy maintenance and handling of the animals, short generation times, and high efficiency of drug penetration through the skin. To establish the animal model and to assess whitening efficacy and safety for whitening products.