subject: Role of Melanin in Vitiligo Cure [print this page] Role of Melanin in Vitiligo Cure Role of Melanin in Vitiligo Cure
Vitiligo disease is one of the most discussed diseases due to the interchanging appearance of people suffering through it. The white patches are the hall mark of Vitiligo which can occur on any part of skin due to loss of skin pigmentation.
The skin pigmentation or skin coloring is determined by the amount of melanin produced by the melanocytes. Melanocytes are the special skin cells that produce the skin pigment medically known as melanin. These pigments are ubiquitous in nature i.e. they are found in most of the part of the body. The melanins in every part of body performs different function and are termed similarly, for example melanin present in brain is known as neuron melanin, similarly there are two melanin present in skin Eumelanin and pheomelanin. Both the melanin works for pigmentation of the skin however, there function is different from the each other.
The skin melanins are produce in melanocytes which are commonly known as pigmentarycell or pigment producing cells. The melanocytes produces melanin with the help of Tyrosinase acquired from amino acid tyrosine. The melanocytes after synthesizing, distribute the melanin to skin cell through melanosomes. The amount of melanin produced determines the skin color. Usually the skin produces a specific amount of both the melanin. Many treatments for Vitiligo work for re-producing melanin by healing the melanocytes. But since the real reason for why the melanocytes are impaired is not yet known therefore there is no Vitiligo cure attained yet.
Eumelanin is a black or brown pigment which warrants the melanin to be termed as photoprotectant. It enables the melanin to provide protection to skin against radiation of sun. The determinant function of eumelanin is to absorb the UV radiations. The greater the number of eumelanin present, the darker would be the skin tone.
Pheomelanin is the redish pigment that acts as photo-sensitizer making the skin sensitive to light. It is a weak absorber of UV radiations and it increases the sun sensitivity and skin ageing factor.
It is believed that the white patches of Vitiligo occur when the melanocytes are unable to produce required amount of melanin due to dysfunction of melanocytes. However the real reason for the mealoncytes malfunctioning is still not known. Many advance researches are being conducted to find the real cause for the impaired function of melanocytes so that Vitiligo cure can be achieved.
