Log In Sign up
The largest database of trusted experimental protocols
> Anatomy > Cell > Melanocyte

Melanocyte

Melanocytes are specialized pigment-producing cells located in the basal layer of the epidermis.
These cells produce melanin, a pigment that gives skin its color and protects it from ultraviolet radiation.
Melanocytes play a crucial role in skin pigmentation and are involved in various dermatological conditions, such as vitiligo, melanoma, and albinism.
Understanding the biology and functions of melanocytes is essential for researchers studying skin pigmentation, melanoma, and other related fields.
This MeSH term provides a concise overview of melanocytes and their importance in dermatological research.

Most cited protocols related to «Melanocyte»

1
Zebrafish Phenotypic Screening Protocol
Zebrafish were maintained in accordance with UK Home Office regulations, UK Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986, under project licence 80/2192, which was reviewed by The Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute Ethical Review Committee.
Heterozygous F2 fish were randomly incrossed and upon egg collection F2 adults were fin clipped and kept as isolated breeding pairs. For each family we aimed to phenotype 12 pairs, over 3 weeks of breeding. Each clutch of eggs, which was labelled with the breeding pair ID, was sorted into three 10cm petri dishes of ~50 embryos each. Embryos were incubated at 28.5°C. Previous mutagenesis screens were used as a reference for the phenotyping 27 (link),28 (link). Those phenotypes studied were: day 1 – early patterning defects, early arrest, notochord, eye development, somites, patterning and cell death in the brain; day 2 – cardiac defects, circulation of the blood, pigment (melanocytes), eye and brain development; day 3 – cardiac defects, circulation of the blood, pigment (melanocytes), movement and hatching; day 4 – cardiac defects, movement, pigment (melanocytes) and muscle defects; day 5 – behaviour (hearing, balance, response to touch), swim bladder, pigment (melanocytes, xanthophores and iridophores), distribution of pigment, jaw, skull, axis length, body shape, notochord degeneration, digestive organs (intestinal folds, liver and pancreas), left-right patterning. In the first round of the phenotyping, all phenotypic embryos were discarded. At 5 dpf, >48 phenotypically wild-type embryos were harvested. Embryos were fixed in 100% methanol and stored at −20°C until genotyping was initiated. In the second round, F2s that were heterozygous for a suspected causal mutation were re-crossed. All phenotypes observed in those clutches of embryos were counted, documented and photographed. Phenotypic embryos were fixed in 100% methanol and at 5 dpf 48 phenotypically wild-type embryos were also collected. The first round genotyping results were assessed using a Chi-squared test with a p-value cut off of <0.05. If the number of homozygous embryos was above the cut-off (i.e. in the expected 25% ratio), the allele was deemed to not cause a phenotype within the first 5 dpf. If the number of homozygous embryos was below the cut-off, the allele was carried forward into the second round of phenotyping. In the second round, we aimed to genotype 48 embryos for each phenotype, ideally from multiple clutches. An allele was documented as causing a phenotype if the phenotypic embryos were homozygous for the allele. We allowed up to 10% of embryos for a given phenotype to not be homozygous, to account for errors in egg collection. Such alleles were outcrossed for further genotyping with F4 embryos at a later date. Where possible, alleles were also submitted to complementation tests.
Kettleborough R.N., Busch-Nentwich E.M., Harvey S.A., Dooley C.M., de Bruijn E., van Eeden F., Sealy I., White R.J., Herd C., Nijman I.J., Fényes F., Mehroke S., Scahill C., Gibbons R., Wali N., Carruthers S., Hall A., Yen J., Cuppen E, & Stemple D.L. (2013). A systematic genome-wide analysis of zebrafish protein-coding gene function. Nature, 496(7446), 494-497.
Publication 2013
Adult Air Sacs Alleles Animals Blood Circulation Body Shape Brain Brain Death Cardiac Arrest Cell Death Cells Cranium Digestive System Eggs Embryo Epistropheus Fishes Genetic Complementation Test Genotype Heart Heterozygote Homozygote Hyperostosis, Diffuse Idiopathic Skeletal Intestines Liver Melanocyte Methanol Movement Muscle Tissue Mutagenesis Mutation Notochord Pancreas Phenotype Pigmentation Somites Touch Zebrafish
2
Skin Lesion Classification Challenges
Extended Data Fig. 2 shows the confusion matrix of our method over the nine classes of the second validation strategy (Extended Data Table 2d) in comparison to the two tested dermatologists. This demonstrates the misclassification similarity between the CNN and human experts. Element (i, j) of each confusion matrix represents the empirical probability of predicting class j given that the ground truth was class i. Classes 7 and 8—benign and malignant melanocytic lesions—are often confused with each other. Many images are mistaken as class 6, the inflammatory class, owing to the high variability of diseases in this category. Note how easily malignant dermal tumours are confused for other classes, by both the CNN and dermatologists. These tumours are essentially nodules under the skin that are challenging to visually diagnose.
Esteva A., Kuprel B., Novoa R.A., Ko J., Swetter S.M., Blau H.M, & Thrun S. (2017). Dermatologist–level classification of skin cancer with deep neural networks. Nature, 542(7639), 115-118.
Publication 2017
Cancer of Skin Dermatologist Diagnosis Homo sapiens Inflammation Melanocyte Neoplasms Skin
3
Identifying Overexpressed Genes in Tumors
In a previous study [16 (link)] we calculated using CCLE the number of cell lines that over-express each gene (twofold more than the peak of expression distribution). For generating the signatures we only use genes that have an overexpression rate of less than 5% (less than 32 cell lines of the 634 carcinoma cell lines). We use this stringent threshold to eliminate genes that tend to be overexpressed in tumors, regardless of the cellular composition. Of 18,988 genes analyzed, 9506 were identified as not being overexpressed in tumors. For signatures of cell types that may be the cell of origin of solid tumors, including epithelial cells, sebocytes, keratinocytes, hepatocytes, melanocytes, astrocytes, and neurons, we used all genes.
Aran D., Hu Z, & Butte A.J. (2017). xCell: digitally portraying the tissue cellular heterogeneity landscape. Genome Biology, 18, 220.
Publication 2017
Astrocytes Carcinoma Cell Lines Epithelial Cells Genes Genes, Neoplasm Hepatocyte Keratinocyte Melanocyte Neoplasms Neurons
4
Melanocytic Lesions Test Cases

Protocol full text hidden due to copyright restrictions

Open the protocol to access the free full text link

Publication 2013
Biopsy Body Regions Eosin Histological Techniques Melanocyte Melanoma Patients Skin Youth
5
Establishing Transgenic Melanoma Zebrafish
Transgenic melanoma zebrafish using the MiniCoopR system were created as
previously described (7 (link)). Briefly, a
plasmid was created in which the zebrafish mitfa promoter drives a zebrafish
MITF minigene devoid of introns. On the same plasmid was a second cassette in
which the mitfa promoter drives EGFP. Flanking both of these genes are Tol2
transposon arms. This plasmid was injected into fish with the following
genotype:
mitfa-BRAFV600E;p53−/−;mitfa−/−.
This strain of fish is devoid of all melanocytes (due to the
mitfa−/− mutation), but upon mosaic rescue with the
mitfa-MITF minigene will develop “patches” of rescued melanocytes,
some of which will go on to develop melanoma during adulthood. Because the
rescued melanocytes all contain the MiniCoopR plasmid, they will necessarily
also express mitfa-EGFP, resulting in melanomas which are entirely EGFP
positive. For the isolation of the cell lines, tumors were cleanly dissected
with a scalpel from melanoma bearing MiniCoopR fish and transferred to a small
petri dish containing 2 ml dissection medium (50% Ham's F12/50% DMEM, 10X
Pen/Strep, 0.075 mg/ml Liberase). They were then manually disaggregated for 30
minutes at room temperature. An inactivating solution (50% Ham's F12/50% DMEM,
10X Pen/Strep, 15% heat inactivated FCS) was then added, and the suspension
filtered 2-3X in a 40μM filter. This was then centrifuged for 5
minutes@500rcf, and resuspended in 500μl of complete zebrafish media (see
Supplemental
Methods for further details). This 500μl was then plated in a
single well of a 48-well plate that be been previously coated with
fibronectin.
Heilmann S., Ratnakumar K., Langdon E., Kansler E., Kim I., Campbell N.R., Perry E., McMahon A., Kaufman C., van Rooijen E., Lee W., Iacobuzio-Donahue C., Hynes R., Zon L., Xavier J, & White R. (2015). A quantitative system for studying metastasis using transparent zebrafish. Cancer research, 75(20), 4272-4282.
Publication 2015
Animals, Transgenic Arm, Upper Cell Separation Dissection Fishes Genes Hyperostosis, Diffuse Idiopathic Skeletal Introns Liberase Melanocyte Melanoma MITF protein, human Mutation Neoplasms Plasmids Strains Streptococcal Infections Zebrafish

Most recents protocols related to «Melanocyte»

1
Optimizing Morphogen Exposure in Stem Cell Differentiation
Not available on PMC !

Example 6

Optimization of Morphogen Exposure

The optimal duration of caudalization and ventralization may vary depending on the parent cell line used, culture conditions, and quality of reagents. For cells with ESC origin both caudalization and ventralization are typically 1 day faster, for hiPSC derived from adult cells, the time can depend on the origin of the somatic cells. Several different types of cells have been used to produce iPSCs, including fibroblasts, neural progenitor cells, keratinocytes, melanocytes, CD34+ cells, hepatocytes, cord blood cells and adipose stem cells. In hiPSC derived from CD34+ cells caudalization and ventralization may be slower for up to 2 days. hiPSC derived from fibroblasts typically follow the time line as explained in the FIG. 1.

US11859206B2. Generation of oligodendrogenic neural progenitor cells (2024-01-02). UNIVERSITY HEALTH NETWORK [CA]. Inventors: Michael George Fehlings [CA], Mohamad Khazaei [CA].
Patent 2024
Adipocytes Adult Blood Cells Cell Lines Cells Cone-Rod Dystrophy 2 Fibroblasts Gene Therapy, Somatic Germ Cells Hepatocyte Human Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells Keratinocyte Melanocyte Neural Stem Cells Neurogenesis Parent Stem, Plant TimeLine Umbilical Cord Blood
2
Dual-MAPK Inhibitor Resistance Cell Lines
TDR cells were generated as previously described [10 (link)]. A375 cells were cultured in Dulbecco’s Modified Eagle Medium (cat# MT15017CV; Corning, New York, USA); WM115 cells were cultured in MEM (cat# MT10009CV; Corning); WM983B cells were cultured in RPMI-1640 medium (cat# MT10040CM; Corning) supplemented with 10% (vol/vol) fetal bovine serum (FBS) (cat# 89510-188; VWR) and 1% penicillin–streptomycin solution 100× (cat# 30-002-CI; Corning). Cultured cells were incubated in a humidified incubator at 37°C with 5% (vol/vol) CO2 and 95% (vol/vol) air. A375 TDR cell lines were maintained in 250 nM dabrafenib and 12.5 nM trametinib. WM983B TDR cells were maintained in 2.4 µM dabrafenib and 500 nM trametinib. WM115 TDR cells were maintained in 800 nM dabrafenib and 200 nM trametinib. 1788C and 1789B melanocytes were kindly provided by Dr. Zalfa Abdel-Malek from the University of Cincinnati, College of Medicine.
Patel H., Mishra R., Wier A., Mokhtarpour N., Merino E.J, & Garrett J.T. (2023). RIDR-PI-103, ROS-activated prodrug PI3K inhibitor inhibits cell growth and impairs the PI3K/Akt pathway in BRAF and MEK inhibitor-resistant BRAF-mutant melanoma cells. Anti-Cancer Drugs, 34(4), 519-531.
Publication 2023
Cell Lines Cells Cultured Cells Culture Media dabrafenib Eagle Fetal Bovine Serum Melanocyte Penicillins Pharmaceutical Preparations Streptomycin trametinib
3
Histological Evaluation of Atopic Dermatitis
For histological evaluation of HND, a histological database at the Yonsei University Severance Hospital was utilized. A query search of AD patients from 2011 who underwent facial skin biopsy was performed, and five patients were randomly selected from 9 candidates.
Histological analysis of non-HND face specimens was performed through a query search of AD patients who underwent skin biopsy on the face from 2013 for suspected concomitant vitiligo (usually the biopsy is conducted with non-lesional normal skin and lesional skin with vitiligo to compare the melanocyte population). Crude age filtering was performed to age-match AD patients. Among the 10 candidates, five patients were randomly selected for image analysis.
At 200x magnification, the longest distance from the subcorneal level to the basal layer was chosen arbitrarily for epidermal thickness after calibrating the scale bar to pixels. The number of vessels/mm2 was counted in the dermis of each slide section within a 100 µm distance from the epidermal–dermal junction.
Immunohistochemical staining was performed using paraffin-embedded sections with antibodies against factor VIII-related antigen (1:100, ab236284, Abcam), stromal cell-derived factor-1-alpha (SDF1-α) (1:100, ab25117, Abcam, Cambridge, United Kingdom), Interleukin-1-beta (IL-1-β) (1:100, ab2105, Abcam), tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α) (1:50, ab1793, Abcam), transforming growth factor-beta (TGF-β) (1:100, ab66043, Abcam), and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) (1:200, ab1316, Abcam). Staining intensity was determined at 400x magnification at a randomly chosen area of the upper dermis. Images were quantified using ImageJ analysis tools (National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MA).
To calculate the stained area of the antibody, we converted the original image to an 8-bit grayscale image (ImageJ>Image>8-bit), applied a binary threshold, and calculated the percentage positive for the stained part in the standard image. Quantification was performed relative to the entire selected region. The threshold for each staining was set as the average threshold of multiple immunostaining analyses performed by three independent experimenters.
Chu H., Kim S.M., Zhang K., Wu Z., Lee H., Kim J.H., Kim H.L., Kim Y.R., Kim S.H., Kim W.J., Lee Y.W., Lee K.H., Liu K.H, & Park C.O. (2023). Head and neck dermatitis is exacerbated by Malassezia furfur colonization, skin barrier disruption, and immune dysregulation. Frontiers in Immunology, 14, 1114321.
Publication 2023
Antibodies Biopsy Blood Vessel CXCL12 protein, human Dermis Epidermis Face Factor VIII-Related Antigen Immunoglobulins Interleukin-1 beta Melanocyte Paraffin Embedding Patients Skin Strains Stromal Cell-Derived Factor-1alpha TGF-beta1 TNF protein, human Transforming Growth Factor beta Vascular Endothelial Growth Factors Vitiligo
4
Gene Expression Normalization Pipeline
To ensure the high quality of gene expression measurements we used a series of filters, which tested the data set for reliance of the control probes and internal consistency. We removed cells with poor total counts of test probes (genes) other than those of housekeeping genes (rpl13 and kanamycin), assuming that most such cells related to cell types that did not express cell markers represented in our panel. In addition, we removed data for probes that displayed expression in only a small number of cells. We used the NanoStringNorm R package83 (link) to remove cells with poor norm factors and noisy background. Normalization was performed using the sum of probes (kanamycin spike-in and rpl13 internal controls) as the reference housekeeping class with ‘mean and 2sd’ selected for the background. In total 731 cells (25 control iridophores, 19 control melanocytes, 108 cells from tails, 444 regular WT cells from different stages and 135 sox10 mutant cells) survived filtering and normalization. We filtered the expression matrix nullifying elements with values less than 30 and imputed for dropouts using drImpute84 (link). In total about 20% of zero counts have been imputed into meaningful quantitative values. After imputation the log transformed expression values have been loaded into a Seurat object (ver. 2.3.4)85 (link).
Subkhankulova T., Camargo Sosa K., Uroshlev L.A., Nikaido M., Shriever N., Kasianov A.S., Yang X., Rodrigues F.S., Carney T.J., Bavister G., Schwetlick H., Dawes J.H., Rocco A., Makeev V.J, & Kelsh R.N. (2023). Zebrafish pigment cells develop directly from persistent highly multipotent progenitors. Nature Communications, 14, 1258.
Publication 2023
Cells Gene Expression Genes Genes, Housekeeping Kanamycin Melanocyte Reliance resin cement Somatostatin-Secreting Cells SOX10 Transcription Factor Tail
5
Zebrafish Melanocyte and Iridophore Isolation
Zebrafish embryos (72 hpf) were decapitated and dissociated to a single cell suspension (Supplementary Fig. 2bi) following by centrifugation using a Percoll (Merck, Cat. No. P4937) density gradient. The cells from the bottom of the tube (Supplementary Fig. 2bii) were resuspended and sorted with Aria III cell sorter using natural cell optical properties in red (DsRed) and green (FITC-A) channels. FACS plot (Supplementary Fig. 2a) demonstrates the relative positions of melanocyte and iridophore gating. Sorted melanocytes were selected from lower right polygon (red dots) and iridophores were selected from long upper polygon (green dots). Isolated melanocytes were imaged in bright field (Supplementary Fig. 2biii), and iridophores were imaged using both green and red channels (shown as a merged channels black-and -white image) (Supplementary Fig. 2biv).
Subkhankulova T., Camargo Sosa K., Uroshlev L.A., Nikaido M., Shriever N., Kasianov A.S., Yang X., Rodrigues F.S., Carney T.J., Bavister G., Schwetlick H., Dawes J.H., Rocco A., Makeev V.J, & Kelsh R.N. (2023). Zebrafish pigment cells develop directly from persistent highly multipotent progenitors. Nature Communications, 14, 1258.
Publication 2023
Cells Centrifugation Embryo Erythrocytes Fluorescein-5-isothiocyanate Melanocyte NRG1 protein, human Percoll Zebrafish

Top products related to «Melanocyte»

1
Fetal bovine serum (fbs) by Thermo Fisher Scientific
Sourced in United States, China, United Kingdom, Germany, Australia, Japan, Canada, Italy, France, Switzerland, New Zealand, Brazil, Belgium, India, Spain, Israel, Austria, Poland, Ireland, Sweden, Macao, Netherlands, Denmark, Cameroon, Singapore, Portugal, Argentina, Holy See (Vatican City State), Morocco, Uruguay, Mexico, Thailand, Sao Tome and Principe, Hungary, Panama, Hong Kong, Norway, United Arab Emirates, Czechia, Russian Federation, Chile, Moldova, Republic of, Gabon, Palestine, State of, Saudi Arabia, Senegal
Fetal Bovine Serum (FBS) is a cell culture supplement derived from the blood of bovine fetuses. FBS provides a source of proteins, growth factors, and other components that support the growth and maintenance of various cell types in in vitro cell culture applications.
2
Medium 254 by Thermo Fisher Scientific
Sourced in United States, Israel, China, Germany
The Medium 254 is a laboratory equipment designed for the preparation and storage of cell culture media. It is suitable for a variety of cell types and applications in the life sciences industry.
3
Dulbecco modified eagle medium (dmem) by Thermo Fisher Scientific
Sourced in United States, China, United Kingdom, Germany, France, Australia, Canada, Japan, Italy, Switzerland, Belgium, Austria, Spain, Israel, New Zealand, Ireland, Denmark, India, Poland, Sweden, Argentina, Netherlands, Brazil, Macao, Singapore, Sao Tome and Principe, Cameroon, Hong Kong, Portugal, Morocco, Hungary, Finland, Puerto Rico, Holy See (Vatican City State), Gabon, Bulgaria, Norway, Jamaica
DMEM (Dulbecco's Modified Eagle's Medium) is a cell culture medium formulated to support the growth and maintenance of a variety of cell types, including mammalian cells. It provides essential nutrients, amino acids, vitamins, and other components necessary for cell proliferation and survival in an in vitro environment.
4
Human melanocyte growth supplement by Thermo Fisher Scientific
Sourced in United States, Australia, Germany
Human Melanocyte Growth Supplement is a cell culture medium supplement designed to support the growth and maintenance of human melanocyte cells in vitro. The product contains a proprietary blend of essential nutrients, growth factors, and other components required for the optimal proliferation and survival of these specialized skin cells.
5
Sk mel 28 by American Type Culture Collection
Sourced in United States, Germany, China, Italy, Switzerland, Japan, United Kingdom, Israel
SK-MEL-28 is a human malignant melanoma cell line derived from a lymph node metastasis. It is commonly used in cell-based assays and cancer research.
6
Penicillin streptomycin by Thermo Fisher Scientific
Sourced in United States, Germany, United Kingdom, China, Canada, France, Japan, Australia, Switzerland, Israel, Italy, Belgium, Austria, Spain, Gabon, Ireland, New Zealand, Sweden, Netherlands, Denmark, Brazil, Macao, India, Singapore, Poland, Argentina, Cameroon, Uruguay, Morocco, Panama, Colombia, Holy See (Vatican City State), Hungary, Norway, Portugal, Mexico, Thailand, Palestine, State of, Finland, Moldova, Republic of, Jamaica, Czechia
Penicillin/streptomycin is a commonly used antibiotic solution for cell culture applications. It contains a combination of penicillin and streptomycin, which are broad-spectrum antibiotics that inhibit the growth of both Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria.
7
Penicillin by Thermo Fisher Scientific
Sourced in United States, United Kingdom, Germany, China, France, Canada, Japan, Australia, Switzerland, Italy, Israel, Belgium, Austria, Spain, Brazil, Netherlands, Gabon, Denmark, Poland, Ireland, New Zealand, Sweden, Argentina, India, Macao, Uruguay, Portugal, Holy See (Vatican City State), Czechia, Singapore, Panama, Thailand, Moldova, Republic of, Finland, Morocco
Penicillin is a type of antibiotic used in laboratory settings. It is a broad-spectrum antimicrobial agent effective against a variety of bacteria. Penicillin functions by disrupting the bacterial cell wall, leading to cell death.
8
Lipofectamine 2000 by Thermo Fisher Scientific
Sourced in United States, China, Germany, United Kingdom, Canada, Japan, France, Italy, Switzerland, Australia, Spain, Belgium, Denmark, Singapore, India, Netherlands, Sweden, New Zealand, Portugal, Poland, Israel, Lithuania, Hong Kong, Argentina, Ireland, Austria, Czechia, Cameroon, Taiwan, Province of China, Morocco
Lipofectamine 2000 is a cationic lipid-based transfection reagent designed for efficient and reliable delivery of nucleic acids, such as plasmid DNA and small interfering RNA (siRNA), into a wide range of eukaryotic cell types. It facilitates the formation of complexes between the nucleic acid and the lipid components, which can then be introduced into cells to enable gene expression or gene silencing studies.
9
Streptomycin by Thermo Fisher Scientific
Sourced in United States, United Kingdom, Germany, China, France, Canada, Australia, Japan, Switzerland, Italy, Belgium, Israel, Austria, Spain, Netherlands, Poland, Brazil, Denmark, Argentina, Sweden, New Zealand, Ireland, India, Gabon, Macao, Portugal, Czechia, Singapore, Norway, Thailand, Uruguay, Moldova, Republic of, Finland, Panama
Streptomycin is a broad-spectrum antibiotic used in laboratory settings. It functions as a protein synthesis inhibitor, targeting the 30S subunit of bacterial ribosomes, which plays a crucial role in the translation of genetic information into proteins. Streptomycin is commonly used in microbiological research and applications that require selective inhibition of bacterial growth.
10
Rpmi 1640 medium by Thermo Fisher Scientific
Sourced in United States, China, Germany, United Kingdom, Japan, France, Canada, Australia, Italy, Switzerland, Belgium, New Zealand, Spain, Israel, Sweden, Denmark, Macao, Brazil, Ireland, India, Austria, Netherlands, Holy See (Vatican City State), Poland, Norway, Cameroon, Hong Kong, Morocco, Singapore, Thailand, Argentina, Taiwan, Province of China, Palestine, State of, Finland, Colombia, United Arab Emirates
RPMI 1640 medium is a commonly used cell culture medium developed at Roswell Park Memorial Institute. It is a balanced salt solution that provides essential nutrients, vitamins, and amino acids to support the growth and maintenance of a variety of cell types in vitro.

More about "Melanocyte"

Melanocytes are specialized pigment-producing cells found in the basal layer of the epidermis.
These cells are responsible for producing melanin, a pigment that gives skin its color and protects it from ultraviolet (UV) radiation.
Melanocytes play a crucial role in skin pigmentation and are involved in various dermatological conditions, such as vitiligo, melanoma, and albinism.
Understanding the biology and functions of melanocytes is essential for researchers studying skin pigmentation, melanoma, and other related fields.
Melanogenesis, the process of melanin production, is a complex and tightly regulated process that occurs within specialized organelles called melanosomes.
Melanosomes are transferred from melanocytes to neighboring keratinocytes, distributing melanin throughout the skin.
This process is essential for maintaining skin color and providing protection against UV damage.
Researchers often utilize various cell culture models to study melanocyte biology, including primary human melanocytes, immortalized melanocyte cell lines (e.g., SK-MEL-28), and melanocyte-keratinocyte co-cultures.
These models allow for the investigation of melanocyte function, signaling pathways, and responses to various stimuli, such as UV radiation, growth factors, and pharmacological agents.
In addition to their role in pigmentation, melanocytes are also important for understanding the pathogenesis of skin disorders.
For example, in vitiligo, an autoimmune condition, melanocytes are selectively destroyed, leading to the development of white patches on the skin.
Conversely, in melanoma, a type of skin cancer, melanocytes undergo malignant transformation and proliferate uncontrollably.
Researchers studying melanocytes often utilize a variety of cell culture media and supplements, such as Fibroblast Growth Medium (FBS), Medium 254, DMEM, Human Melanocyte Growth Supplement, and RPMI 1640 medium.
These materials provide the necessary nutrients, growth factors, and environmental conditions for the cultivation and maintenance of melanocytes in vitro.
Techniques such as transfection, using agents like Lipofectamine 2000, and the addition of antibiotics, such as penicillin and streptomycin, are also commonly employed in melanocyte research to manipulate gene expression, assess cell viability, and prevent microbial contamination.
By leveraging the insights gained from the MeSH term description and the metadescription, researchers can optimize their melanocyte research using the powerful tools and resources offered by PubCompare.ai.
This AI-driven platform can help locate the best protocols from literature, preprints, and patents, enhancing the reproducibility and accuracy of melanocyte-related studies.