The repigmentation of adult skin after wound healing, or loss of melanocytes (e.g.
vitiligo), poses a particular and unique challenge to the invading population of melanocytes.
The melanocytes, or their precursors, resident in adjacent skin or in nearby niches,
must be activated to proliferate, and then negotiate their way through a tightly held
epidermal barrier. The mechanisms whereby melanocytes negotiate their way through
the epidermis to achieve this repigmentation have not been described in any detail
and may occur trans-epidermally, and/or along the basement membrane and/or in the
dermis. While there have been many studies on migratory cells during embryonic development
and in particular physiological processes [
1
,
2
], these situations differ from the adult skin epidermal environment. To migrate through
the tight spaces between keratinocytes, either junctions must be broken and spaces
thus created, or alternatively, quite extreme cellular contortions would need to occur
to allow the cell to move through the narrow paracellular spaces. Further knowledge
of these processes will certainly contribute towards elucidating the mechanisms of
repigmentation in pigmentary disorders.Keywords
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Article info
Publication history
Published online: February 06, 2012
Received:
June 23,
2011
Identification
Copyright
© 2012 Japanese Society for Investigative Dermatology. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
