Talk:Melanocyte

Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment

This article is or was the subject of a Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment. Further details are available on the course page. Student editor(s): Immcarle69.

Above undated message substituted from Template:Dashboard.wikiedu.org assignment by PrimeBOT (talk) 03:50, 17 January 2022 (UTC)

Article categorization

This article was categorized based on scheme outlined at WP:DERM:CAT. kilbad (talk) 00:43, 13 January 2009 (UTC)

General note, it’d be helpful to have a clearer link from melanocytes article to the full gamut of melanocyte-related disorders. Right now this article barely hints at melanocyte disorders beyond vitiligo and melanoma. As I am researching these, I’ll suggest any suitable additions here, once I’ve finished the research — looked at the linked articles, read all the Talk backgrounds, etc. Any advise, suggestions or opinions? Thx. Cynthisa (talk) 00:43, 27 November 2019 (UTC)

Of particular note: this article on “melanocytes and their diseases.” https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3996377/ Cynthisa (talk) 00:46, 27 November 2019 (UTC)

Other comments

this article should be translated from the corresponding articles - german or spanish - they contain much more scientific information!

Actually, this article is wrong. Think about it. If keratinocytes made a chemical upon DNA destruction called "thymidine dinucleotide" which caused the pituitary gland to make a hormone which triggers melanocytes to make melanosomes, releasing them along dendrites where they go to the top layer of the skin... What would stop the hormone from triggering an even tan? Nothing. There's something missing from the equation as it were. Otherwise, tan lines would not exist. And they do!

You see:

"Nitric Oxide and cGMP production is required for UVB-induced melanogenesis and that cGMP mediated its melanogenic effects mainly through the activation of cGMP-dependent kinase. " is how a tan is made. In laymen's terms what effectively happens is that UV-B triggers NO production which in turn triggers cGMP production which triggers melanocytes to undergo melanogenesis.--I'll bring the food 07:01, 2 January 2007 (UTC)

I partiallly fixed it, but it requires much work, I don't have the time either, what a shame.--I'll bring the food 07:46, 2 January 2007 (UTC)

My understanding was the the melanocortins are also produced in both a paracrine and autocrine manner (by keratinocytes and melanocytes respectively) in response to UV. This would explain tan lines. Rockpocket 08:20, 2 January 2007 (UTC)

Thank you for your contribution to this discussion. If you have a source for that I'll add it to the article. As it is, more will need to be made of the "melanocortins" term in it.--I'll bring the food (Talk - Contribs - My Watchlist) 13:47, 6 January 2007 (UTC)

someone should summerize this bcl 2 gene deal: http://www.sunherald.com/160/story/399028.html —Preceding unsigned comment added by Jaanussilla (talk • contribs) 15:09, 7 March 2008 (UTC)

Human differences calculation error - if each melanocyte is about 7 microns then a mm would contain 140 lined up side by side ( 1000/7 assuming average length). This means that a square mm would contain 19600 melanocytes for just a single layer. Have I missed something? Can you show where 1000 to 2000 per square mm comes from? House of Physics (talk) 21:08, 9 February 2012 (UTC)

Sorry, didn't factor the 5 to 10% into calculations. That gives your 1000 to 2000. Not being a biologist, the diagram doesn't make it clear that the melanocytes are only the little dark bits that are separated by lots of other cells. Cheers House of Physics (talk) 21:26, 9 February 2012 (UTC)

Can anyone provide a citation for the average length of a melaocyte being 7 microns? I can't find any literature that confirms that measurement, and most of what I am finding seems to suggest they're much larger. 35.13.220.100 (talk) 14:52, 12 April 2013 (UTC)

Embryological derivation

Where do melanocytes come from? I've heard they are derived from the neural crest - is this true? 91.84.208.36 (talk) 01:55, 22 February 2010 (UTC)

I realize this is more than 2 years later, but just in case you're still wondering, yes, melanocytes are derived from neural crest ectoderm.

Boonshofter 07:35, 11 April 2012 (UTC) — Preceding unsigned comment added by Boonshofter (talk • contribs)

Melanocytes as Immune Cells

Proposed new section of the Melanocyte article explaining the role of melanocytes in the immune system.

Some reviews providing evidence for this section are:

Gasque, P., and M. C. Jaffar-Bandjee. 2015. "The immunology and inflammatory responses of human melanocytes in infectious diseases." Journal of Infection 71 (4):413-421. doi: 10.1016/j.jinf.2015.06.006.

Plonka, P. M., T. Passeron, M. Brenner, D. J. Tobin, S. Shibahara, A. Thomas, A. Slominski, A. L. Kadekaro, D. Hershkovitz, E. Peters, J. J. Nordlund, Z. Abdel-Malek, K. Takeda, R. Paus, J. P. Ortonne, V. J. Hearing, and K. U. Schallreuter. 2009. "What are melanocytes really doing all day long…?" Experimental Dermatology 18 (9):799-819. doi: 10.1111/j.1600-0625.2009.00912.x.

Mackintosh, J. A. 2001. "The antimicrobial properties of melanocytes, melanosomes and melanin and the evolution of black skin." J Theor Biol 211 (2):101-13. doi: 10.1006/jtbi.2001.2331.

Tapia, Cecilia V., Maryanne Falconer, Fabian Tempio, Felipe Falcon, Mercedes Lopez, Marisol Fuentes, Claudio Alburquenque, Jose Amaro, Sergio A. Bucarey, and Anna Di Nardo. 2014. "Melanocytes and melanin represent a first line of innate immunity against Candida albicans." Medical Mycology 52 (5):445-452. doi: 10.1093/mmy/myu026.

Immcarle69 (talk) 03:03, 30 January 2018 (UTC)

Why is this article exclusively human-centric?

So I rarely edit here anymore because I'm really busy, but stumbling upon this article and reading through it, I'm disappointed.

The main article on melanin is written so well with adequate information on the various organisms that have melanin, then you come here to melanocyte, which produces melanin, and find out that its article claims it is exclusively found in human skin.

If you think that's true, here's some verified scientific articles on melanocytes in mammals.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10703177/

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5870308/

https://www.jstor.org/stable/2816370

https://www.anatomy.org/AAA/AAA/News-Journals/Newsletter-Articles/Chromatophores-Melanocytes-and-Skin-Color.aspx

Oh yeah, and Brittanica also mentions they're found in birds too! Here's proof!

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7365947/

Basically, melanocytes were never exclusive to humans to begin with, but this article fails to acknowledge that.

Then the other melanin related articles like amelanism talks about melanocytes in non humans which confirms it even further that non humans have melanocytes too. Even worse because project animal anatomy lists this article as mid-importance when there is literally nothing on animals here.

So, to summarize, I added the human-centric tag because this ridiculously human-centric article seriously needs a fix. LoverOfAllAnimalsActivist (talk) 13:52, 26 June 2024 (UTC)