Melanocyte, specialized skin cell that produces the protective skin-darkening pigment melanin. Birds and mammals possess these pigment cells, which are found mainly in the epidermis, though they occur elsewhere—e.g., in the matrix of the hair. Melanocytes are branched, or dendritic, and their dendrites are used to transfer pigment granules to adjacent epidermal cells.
Human melanocytes are distributed not only in the epidermis and in hair follicles but also in mucosa, cochlea (ear), iris (eye), and mesencephalon (brain) among other tissues. Melanocytes, which are derived from the neural crest, are unique in that they produce eu-/pheo-melanin pigments in unique membrane-bound organelles termed melanosomes, which can be divided into four stages depending on their degree of maturation. Pigmentation production is determined by three distinct elements: enzymes involved in melanin synthesis, proteins required for melanosome structure, and proteins required for their trafficking and distribution. Many genes are involved in regulating pigmentation at various levels, and mutations in many of them cause pigmentary disorders, which can be classified into three types: hyperpigmentation (including melasma), hypopigmentation (including oculocutaneous albinism [OCA]), and mixed hyper-/hypopigmentation (including dyschromatosis symmetrica hereditaria). We briefly review vitiligo as a representative of an acquired hypopigmentation disorder.
In the human skin, melanocytes are present in the epidermis and hair follicles. The basic features of these cells are the ability to melanin production and the origin from neural crest cells. This last element is important because there are other cells able to produce melanin but of different embryonic origin (pigmented epithelium of retina, some neurons, adipocytes). The life cycle of melanocyte consists of several steps including differentiation of melanocyte lineage/s from neural crest, migration and proliferation of melanoblasts, differentiation of melanoblasts into melanocytes, proliferation and maturation of melanocytes at the target places (activity of melanogenic enzymes, melanosome formation and transport to keratinocytes) and eventual cell death (hair melanocytes). Melanocytes of the epidermis and hair are cells sharing some common features but in general they form biologically different populations living in unique niches of the skin.