Lineweaver-Burk Plot was adopted to investigate the inhibitory effects of kojic acid and ferulic acid on the oxidation of L-DOPA catalyzed by mushroom tyrosinase. The potential mechanism of their inhibitory effects was estimated based on the results obtained from Lineweaver-Burk Plot. The IC50 and inhibitory constant (KI) indicated that the inhibitory effect of kojic acid was considerably higher than that of ferulic acid. In addition, spectrophotography and ImageJ were employed to analyze their preventive effects on browning of shrimp hemolymph and apple slices, respectively. Kojic acid possessed better preventive activity towards browning of shrimp hemlymph; while ferulic acid was more effective than kojic acid in terms of sliced apple browning.
