Melanins and melanogenesis: from pigment cells to human health and technological applications |
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| Authors: | Marco d'Ischia Kazumasa Wakamatsu Fabio Cicoira Eduardo Di Mauro Josè Carlos Garcia‐Borron Stephane Commo Ismael Galván Ghanem Ghanem Koike Kenzo Paul Meredith Alessandro Pezzella Clara Santato Tadeusz Sarna John D. Simon Luigi Zecca Fabio A. Zucca Alessandra Napolitano Shosuke Ito |
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| Affiliation: | 1. Department of Chemical Sciences, University of Naples Federico II, Naples, Italy;2. Department of Chemistry, Fujita Health University School of Health Sciences, Toyoake, Aichi, Japan;3. Department of Chemical Engineering, école Polytechnique de Montréal, Montréal, QC, Canada;4. Department of Engineering Physics, école Polytechnique de Montréal, Montréal, QC, Canada;5. School of Medicine, IMIB‐Arrixaca, University of Murcia, Murcia, Spain;6. L'Oréal Recherche & Innovation, Aulnay sous Bois, France;7. Departamento de Ecología Evolutiva, Estación Biológica de Do?ana ‐ CSIC, Sevilla, Spain;8. LOCE, Institut J. Bordet, Université Libre de Bruxelles, Brussels, Belgium;9. Development Research ‐ Hair Care Products, KAO Corporation, Sumida, Tokyo, Japan;10. Centre for Organic Photonics and Electronics, School of Mathematics and Physics, University of Queensland, Brisbane, Qld, Australia;11. Department of Biophysics, Faculty of Biochemistry, Biophysics and Biotechnology, Jagiellonian University, Krakow, Poland;12. Department of Chemistry, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA, USA;13. Institute of Biomedical Technologies ‐ National Research Council of Italy, Milan, Italy |
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| Abstract: | During the past decade, melanins and melanogenesis have attracted growing interest for a broad range of biomedical and technological applications. The burst of polydopamine‐based multifunctional coatings in materials science is just one example, and the list may be expanded to include melanin thin films for organic electronics and bioelectronics, drug delivery systems, functional nanoparticles and biointerfaces, sunscreens, environmental remediation devices. Despite considerable advances, applied research on melanins and melanogenesis is still far from being mature. A closer intersectoral interaction between research centers is essential to raise the interests and increase the awareness of the biomedical, biomaterials science and hi‐tech sectors of the manifold opportunities offered by pigment cells and related metabolic pathways. Starting from a survey of biological roles and functions, the present review aims at providing an interdisciplinary perspective of melanin pigments and related pathway with a view to showing how it is possible to translate current knowledge about physical and chemical properties and control mechanisms into new bioinspired solutions for biomedical, dermocosmetic, and technological applications. |
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| Keywords: | melanogenesis control bioelectronics antioxidants polydopamine dermocosmetic applications melanosomes extracutaneous melanins |
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