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Melanocyte
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The melanocyte is the cell that makes melanin, the pigment that gives your skin its color.
It comes from far away: it derives from the neural crest, a group of cells in the embryo that migrate and spread out through the body. It ends up settling in the basal layer, the deepest layer of the epidermis, and also in the hair follicle, the root of the hair. There it makes melanin from tyrosine, which is an amino acid, one of the building blocks that proteins are made from.
That melanin does not stay inside the melanocyte. It is handed off to the keratinocytes, the cells that make up the bulk of the skin, inside packets called melanosomes. The melanocyte hands pigment to its neighbors in packets, like delivering ink house by house. Melanin protects DNA from ultraviolet radiation, and here is what almost nobody knows: different skin tones do not depend on having more or fewer melanocytes, but on how much melanin is transferred to the keratinocytes in those packets.
In brief
The melanocyte is the cell that produces melanin, the pigment that gives skin its color.
It comes from the neural crest and settles in the basal layer of the skin and of the hair follicle, where it makes melanin from tyrosine.
Melanin protects DNA from ultraviolet radiation, and skin tones come from how much of it is transferred to keratinocytes in melanosomes, not from the number of melanocytes.
The melanocyte hands pigment to its neighbors in packets, like delivering ink house by house.
Sources (1)
- National Center for Biotechnology Information, StatPearls PublishingHistology, Skin, StatPearlsPublished
This page explains the topic in general terms; it does not tell anyone what treatment to follow.
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