The mechanisms that lead to variation in human skin and hair color are not fully understood. To better understand the molecular control of skin and hair color variation, we modulated the expression of Tyrosinase (Tyr), which controls the rate-limiting step of melanogenesis, by expressing a single-copy, tetracycline-inducible shRNA against Tyr in mice. Moderate depletion of TYR was sufficient to...

Human face feature extraction using digital images is a vital element for several applications such as: identification and facial recognition, medical application, video games, cosmetology, etc. The skin pores are very important element of the structure of the skin. A novelty method is proposed allowing decomposing an photography of human face from digital image (RGB) in two layers, melanin and...

The huge development of bioengineering during the last years has boosted the search for new bioinspired materials, with tunable chemical, mechanical, and optoelectronic properties for the design of semiconductors, batteries, biosensors, imaging and therapy probes, adhesive hydrogels, tissue restoration, photoprotectors, etc. These new materials should complement or replace metallic or organic p...

Melanin is the characteristic chromophore of human skin with various potential biological functions. Kerimo discovered enhanced melanin fluorescence by stepwise three-photon excitation in 2011. In this article, step-wise three-photon excited fluorescence (STPEF) spectrum between 450 nm -700 nm of melanin is reported. The melanin STPEF spectrum exhibited an exponential increase with wavelength. ...

Citation: Gajula RP and Gaddameedhi S (2015) Commentary: Chemiexcitation of melanin derivatives induces DNA photoproducts long after UV exposure. Front. Physiol. 6:276. Cutaneous malignant melanoma (CMM) is one of the most rapidly increasing cancers in the western world (Bowden, 2004). Frequency of its occurrence is closely associated with skin color and depends on geographical zone (Leiter and...

The redistribution of melanin granules within dermal and epidermal melanocytes of the frog is responsible for changes in skin color . Surviving frog skin can be lightened and darkened by many different compounds (I). When the granules are dispersed into the branched processes of individual melanocytes, the skin appears dark . When melanin granules are aggregated in the perikaryon, the melanocyt...

A 61-year-old Japanese man with a neoplasm of unknown primary origin without skin lesions was admitted to our department. Computed tomography showed multiple metastatic lesions in the lung, liver, spleen, bilateral adrenal gland, and bone (Picture 1). Moreover, the patient had been suffering from melanuria for 1 month (Picture 2, 3). Cytological urine examination showed tumor cells with brownis...

Despite advances in traumatic wound care and management, infections remain a leading cause of mortality, morbidity and economic disruption in millions of wound patients around the world. Animal models have become standard tools for studying a wide array of external traumatic wound infections and testing new antimicrobial strategies. Study of wound-healing action was conducted on model of full-t...

BACKGROUND Hyperpigmentary disorders like melasma, actinic and senile lentigines are a major cosmetic concern. Therefore, many topical products are available, containing various active ingredients aiming to reduce melanin production and distribution. The most prominent target for inhibitors of hyperpigmentation is tyrosinase, the key regulator of melanin production. Many inhibitors of tyrosinas...

We describe a technique that employs the stochastic Latent Topic Models framework to allow quantification of melanin and hemoglobin content in dermoscopy images. Such information bears useful implications for analysis of skin hyperpigmentation, and for classification of skin diseases. The proposed method outperforms existing approaches while allowing for more stringent and probabilistic modelin...