Southern right whales (SRWs, Eubalena australis) are polymorphic for an X-linked pigmentation pattern known as grey morphism. Most SRWs have completely black skin with white patches on their bellies and occasionally on their backs; these patches remain white as the whale ages. Grey morphs (previously referred to as partial albinos) appear mostly white at birth, with a splattering of rounded bla...

Skin contains many autofluorescent components that can be studied using spectral imaging. We employed a spectral phasor method to analyse two photon excited autofluorescence and second harmonic generation images of in vivo human skin. This method allows segmentation of images based on spectral features. Various structures in the skin could be distinguished, including Stratum Corneum, epidermal ...

BACKGROUND There continues to be a need for objective, noninvasive methods to measure melanin concentration in vivo in human skin, independent of the confounding chromophore, haemoglobin. Existing methods are limited by a lack of specificity and inability to resolve the spatial distribution of these chromophores. OBJECTIVES To validate and calibrate the measurement of eumelanin in vivo using ...

The pigment molecule, melanin, is produced from melanosomes of melanocytes through melanogenesis, which is a complex process involving a combination of chemical and enzymatically catalyzed reactions. The synthesis of melanin is primarily influenced by tyrosinase (TYR), which has attracted interest as a target molecule for the regulation of pigmentation or depigmentation in skin. Thus, direct in...

In many, but not all societies, dark skin color is associated with high blood pressure. Whether the association between skin color and blood pressure is independent of known determinants of blood pressure remains controversial. We examined the association between skin color and blood pressure in 835 Egyptian adults (370 men and 465 women) participating in the National Hypertension Project, a na...

Since ancient times, a face with fair skin is considered as a sign of beauty and the demand for young, healthy, bright and fair skin has created a whitening cosmetics market. The color of human skin and hair established through a number of factors. Melanogenesis i.e. the biosynthesis of melanin is the major factor. It is a multistage process involving melanin synthesis in special organelles cal...

Arbutin, a natural glycoside, is well known as commercial tyrosinase inhibitor, and thus, to prevent pigmentary disorders of skin. In fact, involved in the biosynthesis melanin, skin main pigment. However, arbutin subject hydrolysis, which limits its bioactivity. general, thioglycosides are be very resistant both chemical enzymatic increases interaction time with their biological targets. A bio...

6'-O-Caffeoylarbutin, an arbutin derivative, is a naturally occurring glucoside of hydroquinone from Vaccinium dunalianum. On anti-melanogenic effect assay, 6'-O-caffeoylarbutin expressed a stronger anti-melanin activity in a dose-dependent manner with about a two-fold more than that of arbutin, but with less toxicity about a two-fold lower than that of arbutin. In addition, melanin synthesis c...

Scytalidium dimidiatum is a pigmented dematiaceous coelomycete that typically causes chronic superficial skin diseases and onychomycosis, as well as deeper infections, such as subcutaneous abscesses, mycetoma, and even fungemia in immunocompromised patients. A second species, Scytalidium hyalinum, has hyaline hyphae and arthroconidia and is considered by some authors to be an albino mutant of S...