Background Human skin exists in a wide range of different colors and gradations, ranging from white to brown to black. This is due to the presence of a chemically inert and stable pigment known as melanin, which is produced deep inside the skin but is displayed as a mosaic at the surface of the body. Methods & Materials In mammalian melanocytes, melanosome is a highly specialized organelle wh...

Oculocutaneous albinism is an autosomal recessive disorder. It is associated with a disorder in the synthesis of melanin pigment, clearly manifested by the absence of colour in the skin, iris, and hair. In addition to its importance for a person's physical appearance, melanin plays a protective role with regard to solar radiation: its absence exposes the skin to a greater risk of related photog...

Intracellular organelles mediate complex cellular functions that often require ion transport across their membranes. Melanosomes are organelles responsible for the synthesis of the major mammalian pigment melanin. Defects in melanin synthesis result in pigmentation defects, visual deficits, and increased susceptibility to skin and eye cancers. Although genes encoding putative melanosomal ion tr...

We already reported that genetically engineered resveratrol-enriched rice (RR) showed to down-regulate skin melanogenesis. To be developed to increase the bioactivity of RR using calli from plants, RR was adopted for mass production using plant tissue culture technologies. In addition, high-pressure homogenization (HPH) was used to increase the biocompatibility and penetration of the calli from...

Melanogenesis is the process of melanin synthesis through keratinocytes-melanocytes interaction, which is triggered by the damaging effect of ultraviolet-B (UVB) rays. It is known that melanogenesis influences diverse cellular responses, including cell survival and apoptosis, via complex mechanisms of feedback and crosstalk. Therefore, an attempt to suppress melanin production by modulating the...

Humans with darkly pigmented skin display superior permeability barrier function in comparison with humans with lightly pigmented skin. The reduced pH of the stratum corneum (SC) of darkly pigmented skin could account for enhanced function, because acidifying lightly pigmented human SC resets barrier function to darkly pigmented levels. In SKH1 (nonpigmented) versus SKH2/J (pigmented) hairless ...

Skin patches with reduced pigmentation are the hallmark of acquired idiopathic illness vitiligo. Vitiligo was present in 0.5% to 2% world's population, an increase reaching 1.22% Egypt. The loss melanocytes, which produce melanin pigment skin, hair, mucous membranes, and retina, leads skin depigmentation this illness. Numerous hypotheses contend that genetics, environmental factors, autoimmune ...

Melanin is one of the most important pigments which exist ubiquitously from microorganisms to plants and animals. It is secreted by melanocyte cells and determines the color of skin and hair in mammalians. It protects the skin from photocarcinogenesis by absorbing UV sunlight and removing reactive oxygen species (ROS) (Gupta, 2006; Kim, 2005; Sapkota, 2011). It is formed by enzymatically cataly...

Background/Objectives: Prior studies have demonstrated that both the skin surface pH and epidermal permeability barrier function vary with skin pigmentation types. Although melanin deficiency is the main feature of vitiligo, alterations in cutaneous biophysical properties in vitiligo have not yet been well defined. In the present study, stratum corneum (SC) hydration, the skin surface pH and ep...

(UV) light-induced skin damage. On the other hand, overexposure to UV radiation can lead to a pathological increase in melanin production. Epidermal hyper-pigmentation results from the increased activity of melanogenic enzymes such as tyrosinase. Tyrosinase oxidizes the conversion of L-tyrosine to 3,4-dihydroxyphenylalanine (DOPA) and DOPA to DOPA quinone, which are the first two rate limiting ...