Abstract: There were five Dendrobium species:Dendrobium officinale,Dendrobium nobile,Dendrobium loddigesii,Dendrobium chrysanthum and Dendrobium fimbriatum in the "Cosmetics List".The stems of the five Dendrobium species were extracted by water and ethanol to obtain their aqueous extracts and alcoholic extracts,respectively.Then their anti-aging and whitening activities were investigated by DPPH radical scavenging experiment,tyrosinase activity inhibition test and HDFa collagen secretion test.At the concentration of 100 μg/mL,DPPH free radical scavenging rate of the ethanol extract of Dendrobium officinale was 55.416% and the tyrosinase inhibition rates of water extract of Dendrobium nobile and Dendrobium officinale were 8.023% and 8.488%,respectively;The increase rate of collagen secretion of water extract of Dendrobium chrysanthum was 22.153% at 10 μg/mL.The results indicated the ethanol extract of Dendrobium officinale had a strong free radical scavenging activity,and the water extracts of Dendrobium nobile and Dendrobium officinale had weak tyrosinase inhibitory activities at 100 μg/mL.The water extract of Dendrobium chrysanthum had a good role in promoting collagen secretion at 10 μg/mL.This study built the foundation for the development and utilization of Dendrobium in Cosmetics.

Key words: Dendrobium, Cosmetics List, anti-aging, whitening activity