| Abstract: | Melanocytes are the melanin-producing cells by melanogenesis, and the pigment melanin is primarily responsible for the color
of skin. These cells contain dendrites that are in close contact with neighboring keratinocytes. Keratinocytes produce and
secrete factors that regulate the proliferation and melanogenesis of melanocytes in vitro. Therefore, adopting only melanocyte pure culture may not clearly reflect the skin physiology in vivo. In this study, we applied a two-culture model using melanocytes and keratinocytes from human skin, such as melanocyte pure
culture and melanocyte co-culture with keratinocyte. And then, there was compared the responses of melanocytes under different
culture conditions (treatment with arbutin, MSH-α and UV-B irradiation). The results show that there was no significant difference
in melanocyte proliferation and melanogenesis between arbutin and MSH-α treatment. However, the co-culture model was more
stable than the pure culture model in terms of melanocyte proliferation and melanogenesis upon UV-B irradiation. Therefore,
the co-culture model was superior to the pure culture as a useful method for the study of melanocytes and epidermal melanin
unit. |
