Treatment of human melanocyte cell cultures with the alpha-2 adrenergic receptor antagonist yohimbine results in a marked down-regulation of tyrosinase activity. A 30% decrease occurs within 12 h of exposure of cells to yohimbine (100 microM), and by 48 h tyrosinase activity in treated melanocytes is less than a fifth that of control cultures. The inhibition is dose dependent and occurs in human melanocytes derived from either black or white skin types, and also in mouse melanoma cells. The yohimbine-induced decrease in tyrosinase activity is reversible, with enzyme levels returning to 90% of control values 48 h after removal of drug. Although tyrosinase activity is markedly suppressed by yohimbine, the compound has no effect on cell proliferation, cellular translation, or DNA synthesis. Treatment of melanocyte cultures with yohimbine blocks the increase in tyrosinase activity by either 3-isobutyl-1-methylxanthine, dibutyryl cAMP, or forskolin. Results of cAMP immunoassays, show that intracellular levels of the cyclic nucleotide are unaffected in cells treated with yohimbine. Tyrosinase inhibition by yohimbine does not involve a decrease in substrate availability since tyrosine uptake studies show that yohimbine has no effect on the amount of tyrosine entering the cell. Incubation of a melanosome-enriched fraction with yohimbine does not cause a lowering of tyrosinase activity, suggesting that an intact cell is required for yohimbine action. In addition, tyrosinase extracts show no reduction in activity when incubated directly with yohimbine, indicating that the drug does not act as a direct inhibitor of the enzyme. Finally, results of western immunoblotting show that yohimbine does not significantly lower the amount of tyrosinase protein in human melanocytes. These findings suggest that yohimbine acts through an as yet unidentified signaling pathway to lower the catalytic activity of pre-existing tyrosinase molecules present in melanocytes.