Analysis on melanocytes isolated from nevus spills

2015 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 26861506
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Young Scientists (B)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Research Field: Plastic surgery
• Research Institution: Kyorin University
• Principal Investigator: Eto Hitomi 杏林大学, 医学部, 助教 (40612594)
• Project Period (FY): 2014-04-01 – 2016-03-31
• Keywords: 扁平母斑 / メラノサイト

Outline of Final Research Achievements

Nevus spilus is a congenital pigmentation of skin, which is seen in 10% of Japanese people. Despite of the growing demand for the improvement of the pigmentation, no specific treatment exists yet. Nevus spilus has not been studied currently, and its pathophysiological mechanism remains to be elucidated. Dysfunction of epidermal melanocytes may be implicated in the pathology, so it is necessary to study melanocytes isolated from nevus spilus with molecular biological approach, such as gene expression analysis.
I challenged the primary culture of cutaneous melanocyte, which has been reported to be difficult. Excised skin tissue was treated with enzyme, dermis was separated, and then epidermal cells were suspended and cultured with melanocyte growth medium. Successful cell growth was obtained by experimental test of cell density on culture dishes. However, we have a lot of trouble to establish primary culture of melanocytes isolated from nevus spilus skin.

Free Research Field

形成外科